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Part 2 – Conclusions of the review
H3. The humanities and social sciences
112. At this point we wish to underline the role in a university such as
Lund of the humanities and social sciences, as government policies
for universities, particularly in research, too frequently concentrate
on science, technology and medicine, with a perfunctory nod
towards the humanities and social sciences that implicitly undervalues
their importance for society. There is an implicit notion that
the understanding they confer is less important than that loosely
termed “science”, although natural scientists themselves rarely take
that view.
113. Research in the humanities and social sciences is concerned with
issues that are essential to stability, good order, creativity and
inspiration in society. In these disciplines are gathered the thinking,
learning, and explanation of what binds and what separates human
beings. They seek not only to understand and make accessible that
extraordinary intensity and complexity of beauty by which humans
specify themselves in the merging of thought, emotion and expression
– a high enough mission by any standard. More important
for our purpose, they provide understanding of why and how we
express differently our common characteristics of being, as well as
how we differ as individuals, groups and cultures. History – and
none more so than recent and contemporary history – demonstrates
how supremely important the dissemination of that understanding
is to stable and healthy societies. Globalisation, especially
in its effects of instantly accessible worldwide information, and
increasingly mobile populations, has created political complexity
by bringing once distant cultural assumptions into close proximity,
and makes the latter an ever more pressing necessity.
114. They contribute decisively to today’s recognition that modern
society depends on the whole range and interconnectedness of
knowledge rather than on a few academic disciplines. They make
an increasingly effective practical contribution, together with other
disciplines, to the creation of public policy. Many major contemporary
issues, the introduction of novel and disruptive technologies,
policies for health, education and penal reform, the consequences of
climate change and the development of new energy systems require
engagement across the whole disciplinary spectrum if they are to
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