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

The organization andfinancing of research 721
facilities, etc. These recommendations might guide program agency directors and
university chairmen and deans by making available an informed judgment of those
measures most likely to have a major favorable impact on behavioral and social science.
b. It would direct attention to common or related methods, problems, concepts and
approaches within or across disciplines which might suggest new and unifying concepts.
This is an intellectually challenging prospect.
c. It would provide an indication of those aspects of behavioral and social sciences
which are best established in theory, content and techniques and thus are most ready
for exploitation in the solution of social concerns. The limits of achievement, given the
present state of knowledge, would permit a more realistic assessment of how behavioral
and social sciences might contribute to the national welfare.
d. It would clarify the inter-relation of basic and applied research particularly in
relation to action programs either governmentally or privately supported and, in
particular, show how basic research might be fostered within an applied setting to the
benefit of both basic and applied work.
e. It would provide a basis for evaluating the optimal interplay between the private
sector and governmental programs in support of behavioral and social sciences in
research, education and action programs.
f. It would evaluate the educational and manpower needs in these fields for teaching,
research and application. Included in this analysis might be some consideration and
recommendation of optimal training programs and curricula for the behavioral and
social scientists of tomorrow. This selection might also discuss how supporting curricula
in the behavioral and social sciences could be introduced into educational programs
for business, law, medicine, the clergy, etc.
g. It would provide an over-all source of information and explanation of the nature
and character of behavioral and social sciences not only for educators, government
administrators, Congressmen, etc., but for the intelligent layman, thus contributing to
general appreciation and understanding of these fields.
Recommendations in a first report (December, 1969) include that of establishing
multi-disciplinary graduate schools of applied behavioural science.
52. To understand the import of these inquiries a picture is required of the
organs of science policy in the us Government and of the place in them which
the social sciences have achieved. This is given in the statement made by Herbert
Simon at the Senate Hearings on the Establishment of a National Foundation
for the Social Sciences.zg
With the growth of science in the past generation and its increased relevance to public
policy, a number of institutions have grown up to give the Government more adaquate
access to competent scientific counsel. Perhaps the most important institutions of this
kind today at the level of Congress and the President are:
a. the complex consisting of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), the Treasury
Department, and the Federal Research Board;
b. the President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC) and the Federal Council for
Science and Technology (FCST); and
c. the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (NAS/NRC) complex.
The present arrangements do not provide entirely satisfactory channels for bringing
the best scientific knowledge and advice to bear on public problems. The CEA and its
related organizations are perhaps the least unsatisfactory, since the area of their concern
is relatively well-defined and primarily economic in nature. Nevertheless, the question
of how full full employment should be in our society is becoming more and more a
question with important sociological and other non-economic aspects. It would be
desirable to achieve some broadening of social science participation beyond technical
economics in these organizations.