The social sciences: who needs ‘em?

It is generally forgotten that the institutionalization of disciplines in the social sciences occurred less than 100 years ago. At that time, academics were able to convince the larger community that they could contribute mightily to the amelioration of problems in society. But times have changed. Faced with processes of “globalization,” new technologies, and new pedagogic demands, institutions of higher education now scramble for scarce funds in what is a zero-sum game of survival. But along with this is an attending loss of confidence in the avowed goals and promises of the social sciences, a condition greatly exacerbated by “the culture wars” on campuses. Like it not, too many share the opinion of the Chair of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, James F. Carlin, who asserted that “at least 50% of the non-hard sciences research on American campuses is a lot of foolishness”. Indeed, the future looks bleak unless faculties in the social sciences reassert for themselves an older ideal: the idea that social science has genuine emancipatory potential. But of course that also leaves us with the question, who will pay us to do this work?