Social Research Among the Estates of Science.

Joel Cohen

Expert InsightsPublished 1969

An examination of the role of the social sciences in relation to the government. The change in government due to discoveries in the natural sciences is slow enough at any particular moment that the government may be taken as static and given. The social sciences, however, make the government itself an object of study. If the theoretical inventions are analytical and predictive in form, are based on adequate data, and involve variables which are accessible to control or influence, then these theories (1) can affect directly and immediately virtually any other research, development, or action program in which people are involved; (2) can affect the structure, performance, and purposes of the very organization, the government, which allots the resources for their own future development; and (3) can take massive effect relatively quickly. These characteristics suggest picturing the functional relations among scientists and government as a set of nested feedback loops in which the different sciences affect and are affected by the shape of government at different rates and in different ways. 29 pp.

Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 1969
  • Pages: 29
  • Document Number: P-3927

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Cohen, Joel, Social Research Among the Estates of Science. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1969. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P3927.html.
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