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

The organization and financing of research 797
is more likely to arise from a strategic ordering of problem-oriented work than
from attempts to re-arrange academic disciplines.
15. What Seems to be required is a matrix which would relate individuals and
supra-individual entities to the main dimensions or sections of a society. An
‘entities’ list might read as follows:
Individuals
Families
Formal organizations
Communities
Regions
Countries
Supra-national institutions
A dimensions list would comprise the social systems belonging to such sectors
as :
Education
Government
Health
Industry
Law
Welfare
Such a scheme would permit, for example, the examination of how far re-
search on health questions was at the individual or the community level, or how
far questions of industry and employment were being looked at country-wide
or regionally. More than one matrix of this type would be required.
Aspects of manpower
16. To obtain data on social science manpower proved more difficult than to
obtain data on any other aspect of the social sciences with which this inquiry
has been concerned. Yet more anxiety was expressed about shortfalls in re-
search personnel and their unsatisfactory preparation than about any other
topic. Conventions for collecting statistics and concepts for analyzing the key
problems varied to an even greater extent than they did for expenditure. It is
suggested that four aspects are fundamental :
a. the character and quality of educational preparation;
b. the types and level of employment;
c. the degree of professionalization and its status;
d. career opportunities and patterns.
Special studies of these aspects are needed to draw attention to salient issues and
to suggest lines along which cross-national comparisons could be made.
17. Regarding the educational aspect, two issues may be pinpointed. The
first is the character and quality of undergraduate preparation. The numbers
completing a first degree in subjects belonging to, or related to, the social
sciences make up the stock of ‘raw material’. The second is the character and
quality of graduate preparation. The numbers completing Ph.D.s make up the
stock of ‘processed goods’. Only in the United States is the educational system
well developed in all disciplines of the social sciences at both levels. Yet even