Social Science Space

A bill which essentially halves National Science Foundation spending on the social sciences passed its first legislative test Wednesday on a party-line vote.

With a new Congress expected to take up old causes that might not sit well with the science community, a consortium of social and behavioral science associations brought the message home to legislators that social science was part of their district, too.

The more things change, the more they stay the same — especially when it comes to political reluctance for the U.S government to pay for social science research. Our new blogger, Howard J. Silver, is an old hand at lobbying the feds for research funds, and details how political headwinds blew in a suite of lobbying groups.

Thursday’s mark-up of a bill that nearly cuts the National Science Foundation’s social science spending in half is stirring up the academic community.

The benefits for social science of the just passed U.S. government budget is less what it adds and more what it doesn’t subtract.

Social science may be faring better politically in UK than US, says Ziyad Marar, but let’s avoid complacency at all costs