Philip Lowe Why social scientists should engage with natural scientists

1
Philip LoweWhy social scientists should
engage with natural scientists
2
How do policymakers see social science?

• Social scientists seen as lower status than
  natural scientists
• 800 government social researchers
• But none in FCO, DfID
• Social science enjoyed higher esteem in Victorian
  Britain
• Early social scientists were government advisers

3
How do policymakers see social science?

• Social scientists seen as lower status than
  natural scientists
• 800 government social researchers
• But none in FCO, DfID
• Social science enjoyed higher esteem in Victorian
  Britain
• Early social scientists were government advisers

Social science will give us the answers we need
to secure order and prosperity
4
What can social science contribute today?
Sex all in the mind for women by JAMES TOZER,
Daily Mail Kathy Lette 'Women haveknown of
emotional libidofor decades'
For half of us at least, it may seem blindingly
obvious. But after years of research scientists
have concluded once and for all that, for women,
sex is all in the mind.
5
What can social science contribute today?

• Social science research technologies enact the
  social (Law and Urry 2004)
• To critically engage, social scientists need to
  enact the socio-technical
• Economists provide a model
• Talk of globalisation is performative

6
Is the climate changing for social science?

• Social scientists are currently end of pipe to
  the natural sciences
• Science ? technology ? (mediated by social
  science) ? application
• Technological pessimism and disengagement
• We need to re-embrace technology and
  technological optimism
• Climate change offers new opportunities

7
Managerialism or profligacy?

• Dominant discourse is one of managerialism
• Institutional failure and population growth
• Neo-Malthusian approach

8
Creating a new end of pipe role for social
science?

• We climate change scientists define the
  parameters of sustainable existence, you social
  scientists now go out and persuade people to mend
  their ways

9
Or a new hierarchy of the sciences?

• Original hierarchy of the sciences pure at the
  top, applied at the bottom
• Now environmental scientists are gaining
  importance
• Geoengineers are no longer wacky
• Government funding new avenues of research

10
Social shaping of technology

• New climate change legislation pushing
  technological development
• Social sciences must overcome technophobia and be
  technologically optimistic
• Social shaping of technology assumes that there
  are choices in the development of technology

11
New opportunities for social sciences?

• Government funding for climate change research
• Interdisciplinary programmes like Relu
• 40 disciplines working together across natural
  and social sciences

12
Why do social scientists need to be involved in
shaping technology?