##  [Law of Unintended Consequences](/law-unintended-consequences) 

  ##  [Law of Unintended Consequences](https://social.quantumdictionary.io/law-unintended-consequences-0) 

  

 [![Social Sciences Dictionary](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/Social%20Sciences.png.webp?itok=FFG6NW1n)](/topic-specific-dictionaries/social-sciences)



**Social Sciences Dictionary**

 







 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

Definition

The empirical observation that social actions, policies, or interventions commonly produce outcomes that were not anticipated or intended by their designers, owing to complexity, incomplete information, adaptive responses by agents, and indirect causal pathways.