Communication

Weekly Overview of Social Science News

January 26, 2014 1542

“The simplest explanation for ‘the curious absence of socially conservative economics’ the same reason that there aren’t many social conservatives in any academic field: Because social conservatism is considered uniquely socially disreputable in elite culture, in ways that libertarianism and economic conservatism are not.”

“Admittedly, NSF and NIH do both fund some HSS research, but the amounts involved are tiny compared with their STM expenditures – for example, just $250m or so of NSF’s $5.5bn research funds is spent on social, behavioral, and economic sciences. The only field receiving less funding is the US Arctic Research Commission!”

“‘The program suggested by our article would not fundamentally change the nature of social science,’ said David Laitin, a political science professor at Stanford University and a co-author of the article. ‘Rather, it would have small implications in the way we collect and report our data. It would also invite us to put more attention to the replication of well-known findings rather than investigations of new factors. But these small changes in our practices could have large effects in revising what we thought were well-established findings.'”

“[G Venkat Raman] expresses his disappointment in the overall decline in interest in social science amongst parents and schools. ‘We have not been able to generate a section of scholars to inspire youngsters to pursue social science for higher education. Schools too feel that having just one period a day for history and geography is more than enough. But what has surprised me is when students come up to me and admit that they did not know social science is such a beautiful subject,’ he says.

“’If you’re analyzing the phone book — or the 21st century version thereof — you shouldn’t have to consider it to be human subjects research,’ said Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, who led the committee.”

Senior Marketing Manager at SAGE, and editor of the SAGE Insight blog

View all posts by Lorna McConville

Related Articles

Second Edition of ‘The Evidence’ Examines Women and Climate Change
Bookshelf
March 29, 2024

Second Edition of ‘The Evidence’ Examines Women and Climate Change

Read Now
Did the Mainstream Make the Far-Right Mainstream?
Communication
February 27, 2024

Did the Mainstream Make the Far-Right Mainstream?

Read Now
Why Don’t Algorithms Agree With Each Other?
Innovation
February 21, 2024

Why Don’t Algorithms Agree With Each Other?

Read Now
A Black History Addendum to the American Music Industry
Insights
February 6, 2024

A Black History Addendum to the American Music Industry

Read Now
The Use of Bad Data Reveals a Need for Retraction in Governmental Data Bases

The Use of Bad Data Reveals a Need for Retraction in Governmental Data Bases

Retractions are generally framed as a negative: as science not working properly, as an embarrassment for the institutions involved, or as a flaw in the peer review process. They can be all those things. But they can also be part of a story of science working the right way: finding and correcting errors, and publicly acknowledging when information turns out to be incorrect.

Read Now
When University Decolonization in Canada Mends Relationships with Indigenous Nations and Lands

When University Decolonization in Canada Mends Relationships with Indigenous Nations and Lands

Community-based work and building and maintaining relationships with nations whose land we live upon is at the heart of what Indigenizing is. It is not simply hiring more faculty, or putting the titles “decolonizing” and “Indigenizing” on anything that might connect to Indigenous peoples.

Read Now
Safiya Noble on Search Engines

Safiya Noble on Search Engines

In an age where things like facial recognition or financial software algorithms are shown to uncannily reproduce the prejudices of their creators, this was much less obvious earlier in the century, when researchers like Safiya Umoja Noble were dissecting search engine results and revealing the sometimes appalling material they were highlighting.

Read Now
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments