Social, Behavioral Scientists Eligible to Apply for NSF S-STEM Grants
Solicitations are now being sought for the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, and in an unheralded […]
Economic Inequality and Political Power (Part 3 of 3)
Faith in the wisdom of the affluent to guide public policy has been sorely tested by the enormous costs in money and human suffering resulting from the Great Recession. My data cast further doubt on the notion that representational inequality arises from the greater knowledge or better judgment of those with higher incomes.
Economic Inequality and Political Power (Part 2 of 3)
In my previous post I discussed the lack of government responsiveness to the middle-class and the poor, when their policy preferences diverge […]
Economic Inequality and Political Power (Part 1 of 3)
If policy influence becomes so unequal that the wishes of most citizens are ignored most of the time, a country’s claim to be a democracy is cast in doubt. And that is exactly what I found in my analyses of the link between public preferences and government policy in the U.S.
Objective truth, social ‘science’ and tennis balls
The entire purpose of social science is to apply disciplined, logical, and serious analysis to of all aspects of contemporary social life. Whether ‘scientific’ or not, this process of exploration is intrinsically valuable.
The Importance of Studying the Obvious
Everyone has experience being human, and so findings in social science coincide with something that we have either experienced or can imagine experiencing. The result is that social science all too often seems like common sense.
Why the Stevens Op-Ed is Wrong
The claim that real politics is messier than the statistics are capable of capturing is obviously correct. But the implied corollary – that the government shouldn’t go out of its way to support it – doesn’t follow.
Nobel Prize Winner Elinor Ostrom Leaves Legacy to Celebrate at a Time of Attacks on Value of Her Discipline
Last week we heard the sad news that Professor Elinor Ostrom has died. Her profound contributions to scholarship have been told often since she became the first woman and the first political scientist ever to receive the Nobel Prize for Economics.
Political Science Serving the Public Interest
On May 9, the House of Representatives adopted a provision that would preclude the National Science Foundation (NSF) from supporting research in the field of political science.
