Social and humanities scientists
Social and humanities scientists study and analyse human behaviour and the origin, structure and characteristics of language undertake research in areas such as sociology, economics, politics, archaeology, history, philosophy, literature, the arts organise the collection of qualitative and quantitative information and perform subsequent analyses.
- Employees (UK)
- 11k
- Median annual pay
- £38,591
- Exposure score ?
- 1.3/10 Minimal 8.7/10 Very high strict reading, with tools is 8.7/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.3/10
- Wage exposure
- £55m £369m
Higher exposure than 63% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Almost every routine task in this role is within reach of today's models. Roles like this are being rebuilt, usually not by disappearing but by one person using AI to produce what several did.
If you are in this role
Be the person doing the rebuilding. People who learn to run this kind of work with AI become very valuable, and the ones who wait tend to have the change made for them.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Collect information and make judgments through observation, interviews, and review of documents.
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Teach or mentor undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology or archeology.
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Write about and present research findings for a variety of specialized and general audiences.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Collect information and make judgments through observation, interviews, and review of documents.
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Teach or mentor undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology or archeology.
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Write about and present research findings for a variety of specialized and general audiences.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Anthropologists and Archeologists" (19-3091.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 30 tasks, unaided
Write about and present research findings for a variety of specialized and general audiences.
Write grant proposals to obtain funding for research.
What still needs a person
28 of 30 tasks
Collect information and make judgments through observation, interviews, and review of documents.
Teach or mentor undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology or archeology.
Plan and direct research to characterize and compare the economic, demographic, health care, social, political, linguistic, and religious institutions of distinct cultural groups, communities, and organizations.
Record the exact locations and conditions of artifacts uncovered in diggings or surveys, using drawings and photographs as necessary.
Create data records for use in describing and analyzing social patterns and processes, using photography, videography, and audio recordings.
Assess archeological sites for resource management, development, or conservation purposes and recommend methods for site protection.
Train others in the application of ethnographic research methods to solve problems in organizational effectiveness, communications, technology development, policy making, and program planning.
Gather and analyze artifacts and skeletal remains to increase knowledge of ancient cultures.
Identify culturally specific beliefs and practices affecting health status and access to services for distinct populations and communities, in collaboration with medical and public health officials.
Apply traditional ecological knowledge and assessments of culturally distinctive land and resource management institutions to assist in the resolution of conflicts over habitat protection and resource enhancement.
Compare findings from one site with archeological data from other sites to find similarities or differences.
Lead field training sites and train field staff, students, and volunteers in excavation methods.
Describe artifacts' physical properties or attributes, such as the materials from which artifacts are made and their size, shape, function, and decoration.
Collect artifacts made of stone, bone, metal, and other materials, placing them in bags and marking them to show where they were found.
Conduct participatory action research in communities and organizations to assess how work is done and to design work systems, technologies, and environments.
Develop and test theories concerning the origin and development of past cultures.
Study objects and structures recovered by excavation to identify, date, and authenticate them and to interpret their significance.
Research, survey, or assess sites of past societies and cultures in search of answers to specific research questions.
Consult site reports, existing artifacts, and topographic maps to identify archeological sites.
Advise government agencies, private organizations, and communities regarding proposed programs, plans, and policies and their potential impacts on cultural institutions, organizations, and communities.
Organize public exhibits and displays to promote public awareness of diverse and distinctive cultural traditions.
Clean, restore, and preserve artifacts.
Collaborate with economic development planners to decide on the implementation of proposed development policies, plans, and programs based on culturally institutionalized barriers and facilitating circumstances.
Develop intervention procedures, using techniques such as individual and focus group interviews, consultations, and participant observation of social interaction.
Participate in forensic activities, such as tooth and bone structure identification, in conjunction with police departments and pathologists.
Enhance the cultural sensitivity of elementary and secondary curricula and classroom interactions in collaboration with educators and teachers.
Study archival collections of primary historical sources to help explain the origins and development of cultural patterns.
Formulate general rules that describe and predict the development and behavior of cultures and social institutions.
Tasks via O*NET "Anthropologists and Archeologists" (19-3091.00).
What AI can already do
25 of 30 tasks, with tools
Collect information and make judgments through observation, interviews, and review of documents.
Teach or mentor undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology or archeology.
Write about and present research findings for a variety of specialized and general audiences.
Plan and direct research to characterize and compare the economic, demographic, health care, social, political, linguistic, and religious institutions of distinct cultural groups, communities, and organizations.
Record the exact locations and conditions of artifacts uncovered in diggings or surveys, using drawings and photographs as necessary.
Create data records for use in describing and analyzing social patterns and processes, using photography, videography, and audio recordings.
Assess archeological sites for resource management, development, or conservation purposes and recommend methods for site protection.
Train others in the application of ethnographic research methods to solve problems in organizational effectiveness, communications, technology development, policy making, and program planning.
Gather and analyze artifacts and skeletal remains to increase knowledge of ancient cultures.
Identify culturally specific beliefs and practices affecting health status and access to services for distinct populations and communities, in collaboration with medical and public health officials.
Apply traditional ecological knowledge and assessments of culturally distinctive land and resource management institutions to assist in the resolution of conflicts over habitat protection and resource enhancement.
Compare findings from one site with archeological data from other sites to find similarities or differences.
Describe artifacts' physical properties or attributes, such as the materials from which artifacts are made and their size, shape, function, and decoration.
Develop and test theories concerning the origin and development of past cultures.
Study objects and structures recovered by excavation to identify, date, and authenticate them and to interpret their significance.
Research, survey, or assess sites of past societies and cultures in search of answers to specific research questions.
Consult site reports, existing artifacts, and topographic maps to identify archeological sites.
Write grant proposals to obtain funding for research.
Advise government agencies, private organizations, and communities regarding proposed programs, plans, and policies and their potential impacts on cultural institutions, organizations, and communities.
Organize public exhibits and displays to promote public awareness of diverse and distinctive cultural traditions.
Collaborate with economic development planners to decide on the implementation of proposed development policies, plans, and programs based on culturally institutionalized barriers and facilitating circumstances.
Participate in forensic activities, such as tooth and bone structure identification, in conjunction with police departments and pathologists.
Enhance the cultural sensitivity of elementary and secondary curricula and classroom interactions in collaboration with educators and teachers.
Study archival collections of primary historical sources to help explain the origins and development of cultural patterns.
Formulate general rules that describe and predict the development and behavior of cultures and social institutions.
What still needs a person
5 of 30 tasks
Lead field training sites and train field staff, students, and volunteers in excavation methods.
Collect artifacts made of stone, bone, metal, and other materials, placing them in bags and marking them to show where they were found.
Conduct participatory action research in communities and organizations to assess how work is done and to design work systems, technologies, and environments.
Clean, restore, and preserve artifacts.
Develop intervention procedures, using techniques such as individual and focus group interviews, consultations, and participant observation of social interaction.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons