Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

622 Pierre de Bie
order to settle these questions of amour propre and avoid frustrations, many works
containing the results of interdisciplinary research are composed of autonomous chap-
ters signed by different authors, which is almost an admission of failure. But it is to some
extent imposed by the organization of research as it exists today, when one can, it is
true, make researchers work together but where all that counts, when there is a ques-
tion of advancement, are individuals.
Interdisciplinary collaboration requires, by definition, qualities not only of mutual
tolerance, but of self-sacrifice, effacement of individuals for the sake of the functionality
of the group, to the point even of accepting anonymity. But the Western concept of
‘scientific property’, especially under capitalism, stands in the way of this almost obliga-
tory acceptance of anonymity.77
These remarks on structures of authority and on statuses and roles throw light
on an important condition of the dialogue between specialists collaborating in
the same piece of problem-focused research: this dialogue must be conducted
on a footing of equality. As Jean Rkmy points out: ‘Beyond the feeling of
superiority which one discipline might have in a general way in relation to
others, there is a problem of group dynamism in the strict sense ... We have
emphasized the part played by small discussion groups in which specialists from
different disciplines meet. It is very important . that each of the participants
should have a minimum familiarity with life within small groups to prevent
him handicapping their functioning by emotional problems of various types’.v1
In a report on an interdisciplinary seminar on sociolinguistics, Charles A.
Ferguson describes vividly the first contacts between numerous specialized lin-
guists with an impressive training in theory, and sociologists, much less well in-
formed about problems and theories of language, but otherwise armed with a
real arsenal of concepts and theories relating to social influences and measuring
techniques. At the beginning of the meeting, the linguists betrayed a feeling of
crushing superiority: ‘they all had the conviction - generally well hidden but
sometimes coming to the surface - that only linguists really understand how
language works and consequently sociologists would have to master many of
the concepts and techniques of linguistic science in order to do any fruitful work
at all on sociolinguistic questions’.72
But let us return, for a last series of examples, to the multidisciplinary rela-
tions now being adopted in research on mental illnesses. Bastide considers that
in some cases the struggle between the professions and the conflicts of authority
become even more bitter in problem-focused research than in theoretical
research: ‘We may take as an example the relations between the general medical
practitioner, the psychologist and the psychiatrist. The latter requires for the
treatment of his mental patients information which the doctors supply on
somatic matters and that which psychologists can supply on psychological
matters. Only the relationships between the positions in the first case have long
been regulated by tradition and offer no problems. The position is not the same
for clinical psychology, a new science, whose status is not yet properly fixe8.73
These statuses vary according to the development of disciplines and according
to countries: in France the psychologist may be subordinate to the psychiatrist
insofar as he is simply entrusted with submitting patients to tests. But the devel-
opment of clinical psychology is changing the positions. In the United States the