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

746 Eric Trist
d. The mutual understanding of societies is concerned with problems of communication
by all methods and media and at all levels of human interaction;
also with the conditions of socio-cultural ‘equilibrium’ and ‘dis-equilibrium’.
54. To balance this total programme in another concerned with ‘free’ fundamental
research. This is centred on the humanities rather than the social
sciences though logic and mathematics are singled out. Additional are the
‘actions concertkes’. The first of these is an intensive study of R & D establishments.
Others are on programmed learning and the use of space in cities. Finally,
there is a scheme for examining neglected aspects of communication and adaptation
in groups undergoing changes in life-style through technical and economic
development.
55. In recommending how all this is to be put into effect, the DGRST laid stress
on bringing into being special centres in user-organizations, particularly government
departments, with the double function of coordinating the projects undertaken
and relating the research workers to the executive. The key centre would
be set up in the office of the Prime Minister, at the elbow of the Commissariat
Gknkral du Plan, under the title of the Centre de Coordination &Orientation
des Recherches sur le DBveloppement Economique et Social (CCORDES).
IV. NEW PATTERNS IN EASTERN EUROPE
Academies of sciences
I. The socialist countries of Eastern Europe have a common pattern in the
organization of their scientific activities, the central feature being the Academies
of Sciences. Though outside government, academies play a key role in the
network of Science Policy making bodies. They carry out the greater share of
fundamental and problem-oriented research. Since ‘scientific problem councils’
were introduced in the Soviet Union in 1959 the academies have undergone a
development with far-reaching implications for the social sciences.87 Against a
different organizational and cultural background, it parallels the trend towards
multidisciplinary work on generic field-determined problems in Western Eu-
rope and the United States.
2. An error must be corrected, commonly made in other parts of the world -
that the academies exercise a research monopoly. First there are special acade-
mies not included in the general academy system. In the Soviet Union there is a
USSR Academy of Medical Sciences and a USSR Academy of Agricultural Scien-
ces. Within Russia itself there is the RFSR Academy of Urban Economy. In the
universities, research institutes exist in considerable numbers even if not on
the scale of academy establishments. Their growth may be related to growth
in graduate education. Departments of government also undertake a good
deal of applied research. This spills over into ‘the hinterland of technical and
scientific services.’ Applied research also goes on in a variety of other user-organi-
zations, particularly, but not only, industrial enterprises. A growing amount
of work in applied economics, operational research and planning is carried out
by user-organizations in Eastern European countries.