Cutting NSF Is Like Liquidating Your Finest Investment
Look closely at your mobile phone or tablet. Touch-screen technology, speech recognition, digital sound recording and the internet were all developed using […]
Close Encounters of the Dental Kind
After an unplanned visit to an American dentist, Robert Dingwall reflects on the power and the role of the case study
Campaigning for Social Science: Public Sociology and ‘Public Sociologists’
The arrival of a report calling for the British government to better support social science has raised questions about the role, responses and responsibilities of a ‘public sociology.’
Social Science Needs to Benefit Society, and Now
The last two UK governments have invested heavily in social science research. But we still do not know how to use the results in order to start improving society. This has to change, and soon.
Ebola: The Human Cost of Neglecting the Social Sciences
There is a genuine cost from ignoring lessons from social science in the fight against Ebola. What’s even sadder — these lessons were taught in blood three decades ago in the fights against AIDS. Are we ready for the next malady?
(The Grand Theory of) Neo Emotivism
‘Neo-emotivism’ is a concept Kip Jones describes as intentionally using emotional responses for academic ends in large part by drawing from nontraditional source like art and literature for inspiration and even vocabulary.
Building Buzz Really Is a Good Career Move
Tweeting and talking to reporters sure must be a good thing for boosting buzz about researchers’ work and then ultimately their careers, right? A new study says absolutely, but it also questions the benefits of some other career-boosting activities.
Beware: Neuroscience’s Trappings Dress Up ‘Cargo Cult Science’
In marketing and in nontraditional education the words and concepts of neuroscience are appropriated with abandon. In many cases, despite the veneer of research respectability this suggests, the results are anything but scientific.
Is Doctor Who a Sociologist?
Doctor Who’s sobriquet implies he’s earned a doctorate in something. The Doctor’s not telling what he might have studied, but his actions and attitudes make a strong case for one discipline …
