软科幻（英语Soft Science Fiction，简称Soft SF）科幻小说分支，相对于硬科幻，软科幻情节和题材集中于哲学、心理学、政治学、社会学。

软科幻作品中科学技术和物理定律的重要性被降低了。因为它所涉及的题材往往被归类为软科学或人文学科，所以它被称为“软”科幻小说。

例如，系列科幻小说《沙丘》中，弗兰克·赫伯特通过创造一个全新的世界，抛弃了智能机器，而回到了封建社会。赫伯特借对当前社会政治现实的逼真模拟，以“沙丘”的传奇对人类的现状进行批判。软科幻小说也探索社会对事件的反应，和纯粹由自然现象或技术进步引发的问题（往往是灾难），主题往往是说明科学像一把“双刃剑”，需要人文关怀的引导（最常见的就是指责机器不能代替人伦情感）。

Soft science fiction, or soft SF, is a category of science fiction that uses less probable or realistic science elements. It either (1) explores the "soft" sciences, and especially the social sciences (anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science, and so on), rather than engineering or the "hard" sciences (for example, physics, astronomy, or chemistry), or (2) is not scientifically accurate, or (3) both of the former. Soft science fiction of either type is often more concerned with character and speculative societies, rather than scientific or engineering speculations. It is the complement of hard science fiction. The term first appeared in the late 1970s.