-
THEPOLICY
SCIENCESRecent Developments in
Scope and Method
Edited by
DANIEL LERNER and HAROLD D. LASSWELLwith the editorial
collaboration of
HAROLD H. FISHER} ERNEST R. HILGARD
SAUL K. PADOVER, ITHIEL DE SOLA POOL
C. EASTON ROTHWELL
STANFORD UNIVERSITT PRESSSTANFORD, CALTFORNIA
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The Policy OrientationHAROLD D. LASSWELL
FHE continuing crisis of national secur-.ty in which we live
calls for the mostefficient use of the manpower, facilities,,ind
resources of the American people.Highly trained talent is always
scarceand costly. Hence the crisis poses theproblem of utilizing
our intellectualresources with the wSJesl- economy. IfDUT policy
needs are to be served, whattopics of research are most worthy
ofpursuit? What manpower and facilitiesshould be allocated to
official agenciesand to private institutions for the prose-cution
of research? What are the mostpromising methods of gathering
factsand interpreting their significance forpolicy? How can facts
and interpreta-tions be made effective in the decision-making
process itself?
Although the importance of thesequestions is emphasized by the
urgencyof national defense, they are in no sensenew. For years
there has been a livelyconcern in intellectual circles for
theproblem of overcoming the divisivetendencies of modern life and
of bring-ing into existence a more thorough in-tegration of the
goals and methods ofpublic and private action.
Thepaceofspecialization in philosoprTy^ riaturalscience, biology,
and' the soclarsciences_Kas been so rapiTSiaTcolleagues
onthetacuity o i a ~ single iihiversity , or even^members of a
jjingle department, ojtencomplain_that theylcannot understandone
another^ The unity of the intel-
fe and the harmonizin of sci-ence and practice have been
underminedby these "centrifugal" forces.
For several years new trends towardintegration have been gaining
strengthin America. In liberal arLs colleges the
more rigid curriculum, and surveycourses nave~been devised to
introducethe student to broad fields of knowledgeand to prepare the
way for a vision ofthe whole. At the level of research,mixed teams
of specialists have beenassembled to work on common problemsin the
hope of counteracting the dele-terious effects of an excessive
atomiza-tion of knowledge. In the realm of pol-icy, more attention
has been given toplanning, and to improving the infor-mation on
which staff and operationaldecisions are based. We have becomemore
aware of the policy process as asuitable object of study in its own
right,primarily in the hope of improving therationality of the flow
oj decision.
JA policy orientation/has been devel-oping" that cuts across the
existing spe-cializations. The orientation is twofold.In part it is
directed toward the policyj)rocess, and in^part towardjhe
intelTJ7gence needs of jpolicyT The first tasK7"which is the
development of a scienceof policy fqgming^ and execution,
usestKemetnods of soeiaT^d"_psTChoIoglcaT
"Inquiryr The second task, which is meimproving of the concrete
content of theinformation and the interpretationsavailable to
policy-makers, typicallygoes outside the boundaries of social
sci-ence and psychology.
In so iar,therefore., as the policyorientation is focused upon
the scien-tific study of policy, it is narrower thanthe
psychological and social sciences,which have many other objects of
in-vestigation. However, where the needsof policy intelligence are
uppermost, anyitem of knowledge, within or withoutthe limits of the
social disciplines, may
THE continuing crisis of national secur-ity in which we live
calls for the mostefficient use of the manpower, facilities,,and
resources of the American people.Highly trained talent is always
scarceand costly. Hence the crisis poses theproblem of utilizing
our intellectualresources with the wSJesl- economy. IfOUT policy
needs are to be served, whattopics of research are most worthy
ofpursuit? What manpower and facilitiesshould be allocated to
official agenciesand to private institutions for the prose-cution
of research? What are the mostpromising methods of gathering
factsand interpreting their significance forpolicy? How can facts
and interpreta-tions be made effective in the decision-making
process itself?
Although the importance of thesequestions is emphasized by the
urgencyof national defense, they are in no sensenew. For years
there has been a livelyconcern in intellectual circles for
theproblem of overcoming the divisivetendencies of modern life and
of bring-ing into existence a more thorough in-tegration of the
goals and methods ofpublic and private action.
Thepaceofspecialization in philosoprTy^ naturalscience, biology,
and' the soclarsciences_Has been so rapiTSiaTcolleagijes
onjhetacuity ot a single university, or even^"members of a jjingle
department, ojten~complain that theYJcannot understandone another^
The unity of the intel-
fe and the harmonizin of sci-ence and practice have been
underminedby these "centrifugal" forces.
For several years new trends towardintegration have been gaining
strengthin America. In jiberal arLs colleges theelective system has
been giving way to a
more rigid curriculum, and surveycourses nave~been Revised to
introducethe student to broad fields of knowledgeand to prepare the
way for a vision ofthe whole. At the level of research,mixed teams
of specialists have beenassembled to work on common problemsin the
hope of counteracting the dele-terious effects of an excessive
atomiza-tion of knowledge. In the realm of pol-icy, more attention
has been given toplanning, and to improving the infor-mation on
which staff and operationaldecisions are based. We have becomemore
aware of the policy process as asuitable object of study in its own
right,primarily in the hope of improving therationality of the flow
oj decision.
JA policy orientation/has been devel-oping" that cuts across the
existing spe-cializations. The orientation is twofold.In part it is
directed toward the policyj)rocess, and in^part towardjhe
intelTJ7gence needs of jpolicyT The first tasK7"which is the
development of a scienceof policy fqgming^ and execution,
usestKemetnods of sociaT^d"_psTChoIoglcaT
"Inquiryr The second task, which is meimproving of the concrete
content of theinformation and the interpretationsavailable to
policy-makers, typicallygoes outside the boundaries of social
sci-ence and psychology.
In so iar,therefore, as the policyorientation is focused upon
the scien-tific study of policy, it is narrower thanthe
psychological and social sciences,which have many other objects of
in-vestigation. However, where the needsof policy intelligence are
uppermost, anyitem of knowledge, within or withoutthe limits of the
social disciplines, maybe relevant. We may need to know the
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THE POLICY SCIENCES
harbor installations at Casablanca, orthe attitudes of a
population of Pacificislanders to the Japanese, or the maxi-mum
range of a fixed artillery piece.
We may use the term "policy sci-ences" for the purpose of
designating thecontent of the policy orientation duringany given
period. / The policy sciencesincludes (1) the methods by which
thepolicy processors jnvesti_gate37 (2) Jtheresults oi the study of
policy,jmd (3)
ot tajscrplines"makingthe.
intelligence : needs ofthe time. If we areto advance in our
scientific grasp of thepolicy formation and execution processas a
whole, it is obviously essential toapply and improve the methods
bywhich psychological and social-scien-tific investigations are
made. The pres-ent book therefore emphasizes develop-ments in
research which are of unusualimportance for the understanding
ofhuman choice. If the rationality of thepolicy process is to be
improved, wemust single out the intelligence functionfor special
study. To some extent thetask of improving the intelligence
func-tion depends upon more effective tech-niques of communication,
among re-search workers, policy advisers, and themakers of final
decisions. Therefore thepolicy sciences are advanced wheneverthe
methods are sharpened by whichauthentic information and
responsibleinterpretations can be integrated withjudgment. To some
extent the qualityof the intelligence function at any giventime
depends upon the successful an-ticipation of policy needs before
theyhave been generally recognized. Suc-cessful prediction depends
upon thecultivation of certain patterns of think-ing. For instance,
it is important toconsider the entire context of eventswhich may
have an impact upon thefuture problems of policy. Hence theworld as
a whole needs to be kept at thefocus of attention. It is also
essentialto cultivate the practice of thinking of
the past and the future as parts of onecontext, and to make use
of "develop-mental constructs" as tools for explor-ing the flow of
events in time. An ex-ample of developmental thinking on aglobal
scale is exemplified in this bookby the chapters which deal with
thepotentialities of the "garrison state."
The^expressjc-n "policy sciences" isnot in general use in the
United States,'afthougn itjs^ccurring more irequent^-now than
before, r/erhaps iT should bepointed out that the term is not to
betaken as a synonym for any expression
in current use among scholars. Jlanojher way of talking
aboutjthe
sciences"'as~a whole, no^of theand psychological sciences."the
"policy sciences" identical
with "applied social science'7 or "ap-pliedjjocial and
psychological science?^As explained TTefore^the policy orienta-tion
stresses but one of the many prob-lems which come within the
properscope of the social sciences, and in-cludes the results of
the social, psycho-logical, arid natural sciences in so far asthey
have a bearing_gn the policy needsof a given period for adequate
intelli-
^nNolj are the "policy sciences" to bethought of as largely
identical withwhat is studied by the "political scien-
jists"the terra in common use for aca-domic tCticncrs
21^ernment. It is true that one group oPacademic political
scientists wouldidentify the field with the study of power(in the
sense of decision-making) .~~Butat present this is ITmmonty
viewpoint.Many of the most valuable contribu-tions to a general
theory of choice (in-cluding "decisions," defined as sanc-tioned
choices) have been made bypersons who are not political
scientists(in the academic division of labor).Examples are
abundant, and includethe "rational theory of choice" (calledthe
"theory of games") developed bythe mathematician von Neumann
and
ORIENTATION
the economist Morgenstern, Amongthe contributors to the present
volume,economists Arrow and Katona are par-ticularly concerned with
the theory ofchoice. And it would not be difficult toname
psychologists, anthropologists,and others who have specialized to
afruitful degree upon the understandingof choice. * 1
The word Fpo&sy*tis commonly usedto designatethemost
important choicesmade either in organized or in privatelife. We
speak of "government policy,"
^business policy," oTT^nV"own policy""""''regarding investments
and other mat-ters. Hence "policy" is free of many,-of the
undesirable coDrjotatlons^clns-l_/,tered about
tbe_word..potiticQJL, which is;'often believed to_ imply
partisajjsHnor "corruption -"
When I speak of the "policy orienta-tion" in the United States I
am empha-sizing what appears to be a dominantcurrent among many
scholars andscientists, notably in the social sciences.The
conception of the policy sciences isarising to give insight into
these recenttrends and to aid in clarifying their
fullpossibilities. The movement is not onlytoward a policy
orientation, with a re-sulting growth in the policy sciences,but
more specifically toward: the policysciences of democracy.
THE EMPHASIS ON METHODThe meaning of current developments
will be more apparent if we review thetrends between World War I
and WorldWar II. The first of these wars was aturning point in the
history of the socialand psychological sciences in the
UnitedStates. Some of these disciplines madeconspicuous
contributions to the prose-cution of the war. Others did not.
Theproblem immediately arose of account-ing for the difference. The
interwarevolution of the social sciences in theUnited States is
largely to be explainedin terms of the answers to this
question.
The most influential answer was this:tative methods were the
ones that rosethe disciplines which possessed quanti-most rapidly
in influence. Considerfrom this point of view the case of
eco-nomics. Economists were extensivelyutilized to estimate the
facilities, man-power7~and resources necessary to pro-duce the
munitions required by thearmed forces and to supply men andmateriel
where needed. Tjie^economicscientists jwho made. the. greatest
direet-contribution employed mathematics andstatistics. They had
method. And theywere guaiitiTaTtveT 'I 'Key could 'manipu-late data
in the light of a system of gen-eral postulates, laws, and
hypotheses.
Consider the psychologists. The mostsuccessful group used
intelligencetests" as a quick means of selectingpersonnel for
various operations. Im-mediately after World War I , the re-sults
gained enormous publicity whenarticles appeared in which the
remark-able assertion was made that most ofthe American army was
"below averageintelligence." It took many years tostraighten out
the misconceptions in thesensational reports originally
made.Obviously the word "average" had en-tirely different meanings
for the read-ing public and for the psychometricianswho created and
applied the tests. How-ever, the publicity given to testing
andpsychology greatly increased scientificand lay interest in the
subject. Onceagain the success of the discipline ap-peared to
depend upon the use of quan-titative methods. Intelligence tests
wereevolved and applied with the aid of "sta7tistical
procedures.
jThe rise _oj ! economists and
psycho-melncTaTis^seemejloindicate "tEaT'THe
_dpser the "social scientist came~to~tEemethods of physical
science thelnofgcertain his methods could_be of accept-_
Thispoint of view was emuha-sized by the scholar who took the
mostimportant part in remolding the socialdisciplines, Charles E.
Merriam, profes-
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THE POLICY SCIENCES THE POLICY ORIENTATION
^ , ,
- "
sor of political science at theJOniversityof Chicago. Professor
[jVIerriam/ tookthe initiative in organizing" the SocialScience
Research Council, which is adelegate body of scholarly
associationsin political science, economics, sociol-ogy,
psychology, and other socialsciences. Merriam stressed the
irn_--pr.rtflnf-o
nf bT-f-akinp; down the barriersthat-separate scholars from one
another,^and of leveling-up methodological com^petence everywhere.'
in a typical state-ment, made in 1925, he wrote in thepreface to
his New Aspects of Politics:"It is . . . the purpose of this study.
. . to suggest certain possibilities ofapproach to a method, in the
hope thatothers may take up the task and throughreflection and
experiment eventually in-troduce more intelligent and
scientifictechniaueTnto the study and practice ofgovernment, and
into popular~attitudes
"toward the governing process."1At the same time that steps were
be-
ing taken at the national level to organ-ize the Sociai Science
Research Council,leading universities were working outagencies for
interdisciplinary research.At the University of Chicago, for
ex-ample, field studies of the city of Chi-cago were made by the
Local Com-munity Research Committee (latercalled the Social Science
Research Com-mittee) . Joint programs were devel-oped at Columbia
University andHarvard, University. An Institute ofHuman Relations
was established at3l&-
The programs just referred to werefinanced in large part by the
RockefellerFoundation and the Laura SpelmanRockefeller Memorial
Fund, anotherRockefeller benefaction. One of themost imaginative
and aggressive factorsin the program was Beardsley Ruml,who at
various times was administra-tively active on both
foundations.Ruml, it is worth noting, was a Ph.D.
' Charles E. Merriam, A'eto Aspects of Politics(1925), p.
xiii.
in psychology, well-versed in statistics,"wKcTHada share ouring
World War Iin the testing program of the Army.
The outlook of Merriam and his fel-low leaders of the postwar
generation ismade explicit in many publicationswhich appeared
during the nineteen-twenties. The interdisciplinary themeis
prominent in A History oj PoliticalTheories: Recent Times, a
volumeedited by Merriam and Professor HarryElmer Barnes, published
in New Yorkin 1924. In addition to the politicalscientists who
contributed to the sym-posium there were lawyers (E. M.Borchard and
Caleb Perry Patterson),an economist (Paul H. Douglas), ahistorian
(Carlton J. H. Hayes}. aphilosopher (Herbert W.
Schneider),sociologists (Barnes, and Frank H.Hankins), a social
psychologist(Charles Elmer Gehlke), an anthro-pologist (Alexander
A. Goldenweiser),and a social geographer (FranklinThomas).
An evidence of the stress on methodwas the Committee on
Scientific Methodwhich was appointed by the SocialScience Research
Council and in 1931brought out Methods in Social Science:A
Casebook, edited by Stuart A. Rice.The book was composed of
fifty-twomethodological analyses of contribu-tions to the social
sciences. The analystsincluded such authorities from manyfields as
Robert E. Park and WilliamF. Oghurn (sociology) ; A. L. Kroeberand
Edward Sapir (anthropology) ;John Maurice Clark and Frank H.Knight
(economics); W. Y. Elliott andGeorge E. G. Gatlin (political
science) ;Heinrich Kliiver and Robert S. \Xood-worth (psychology) :
Floyd Allport andKJmbalf Young (social psychology) ;Philip Klein
(social work) ; RaoulBlanchard and K. C. McMurry (socialgeography);
and Henri Pirenne andSidney B. Fay (history).
Another means of stimulating inter-est in method was the
post-doctoral fel-
lowship program of the Social ScienceResearch Council. The
program wasdesigned to encourage young scholarsto improve their
scientific equipmentby adding a new technique to their pri-mary
specialization.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF DE-PRESSION AND WAR
It is against the background of stresson improving the sciences
of man bysharpening the tools of research thatsubsequent
developments need to be set.No one seriously doubts that the
levelof technical excellence of American so-cial science rose
between World War Iand "ft'orld War II despite the Depres-sion.
When the second of the warscame, new disciplines were well
enoughevolved to join the older specialties inmaking themselves
felt.
Economics continued to make greatcontributions in the
mobilization of theAmerican economy for World War II.It is
generaify^agreed that the courage-ous forecasts and plans of a key
groupof economists on the War ProductionBoard had a decisive impact
on thetempo of effective participation by thiscountry. I refer
particularly to the workof Stacy May. Simon Kuznets, RobertNathan,
and their associates. (Kuznetswas one of Professor Wesley C.
Mitch-ell's most productive associates in thestudy of business
cycles at the NationalBureau of Economic Research.)
Psychologists were far more numer-oujs ancTerlective in World
War II than'in thejprevious one. Besides develop-ments in
intelligence testing, there hadbeen between the wars great
advancesin measuring aptitudes and personalitystructure.
Sociologists and social psy-chologists came more prominently
intothe picture than in the first war. Pro-fessor Samuel A.
Stouffer and his asso-ciates made continuous and systematicstudies
of the attitudes prevailing amongmilitary personnel, utilizing and
de-
veloping the quantitative proceduresevolved between the wars by
ProfessorL. L. Thurstone and others.
In the light of the successesachieved,there is no reason to!
doubtlthat thestress put upon quantitative method is
vindicated^. It will continue tbinspire ambitious young scholars
in thefield of human relations. There are,however, grounds for
forecasting asomewhat different emphasis amongsocial scientists in
the coming years.The battle for method is won._ It is
""likely that social and psychologicalscientists will be
sufficiently sure ofthemselves to take mptbm-l forand to put the
emphasis on the choiceof "sjgm'ficant problems on which to ap-ply
and evolve method. This is the pointat which considerations of
policy comeinto the picture.
KNOWLEDGE FOR WHAT?Although the importance of quanti-
tative method was the dominant themein interwar social science,
there weremany indications of rising preoccupa-tion with policy. A
vigorous and earlyexponent of the policy approach wasProfessor
Robert S. Lynd of ColumbiaUniversity, joint author of
certainclassical community studies and longthe secretary of the
Social Science Re-search Council. Professor Lynd gave aseries of
lectures at Princeton Univers-ity in 1939 under the title
"Knowledgefor What?" in which he insisted uponthe importance of
utilizing all availablemeans of acquiring knowledge in orderto cope
with the gigantic crises of ourtime.
The policy apprnarh is not to be_con-f oun ded with the
superficial idea thatsocial scientists ought to desert science
"and^engage lull time in practicaltrtsTTNor should it be
confused with thesuggestion that social scientists oughtto spend
most of their time advisingpolicy-makers on immediate
questions.
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8 THE POLICY SCIENCES
Although it may be wise for scholarsto devote more time to
active affairs,the most fruitful policy science idea isdifferent.
The point is that all the re-sources of our expanding social
scienceneed to be directed toward the basicconflicts in our
civilization which are go"vividly jiisclgsed by the application_of'
scienti5c_method to the"study~ot person -"aBty _and Culture. A
fundamental pic-
ture of American culture and personal-ity has been drawn by the
accumulatingresults of modern research by sociol-ogists,
anthropologists, psychiatrists,and psychologists.
CHOOSING FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS
The basic emphasis of the policy ap-proach, therefore, is upjai
the _ jf unda-mental problems oj man in _soci_ety_t_
"rather ^ han_u ponjthetopical issues ofthe moment. "The
combinecTeflorts ol
workers have dis-closed roots of tension within ourcivilization
of which we were previouslyunaware. The difficulties which weface
in operating economic and politicalinstitutions are obvious to all.
Whathas eluded scientific and policy attentionis a large number of
the human factorswhich prevent the resolution of thesedifficulties
by rational means. Build-ing on the work of Freud and
otherpsychopathologists, Harry Stack Sulb-van and
other_psychiatrists traced indetaiTThe fundamental ^ mp"ortance
ofself-esteem for the healthy evolution ofhuman personality. Unless
the infantand the child are able to love them-
^
others- . IriteTTerences with the growthof a healthy conception
of the self leadto the warping of personality into
de-structiveness. Sullivan and his associ-ates discovered that the
true field of thepsychiatrist is not the isolated individ-ual
organism but the context of inter-personal relations in which the
indi-vidual lives. By studying the psychotic,
neurotic, and psychopathic manifesta-tions of distorted
development, thesepsychiatrists discovered the way inwhich specific
patterns of culture warpthe growth of congenial and
productiveinterpersonal relations. Once discov-ered and exposed,
these sources ofhuman destructiveness can be changed.The basis is
laid for a profound recon-struction of culture by continual
studyand emendation, and not by (or cer-tainly not alone by) the
traditionalmethods of political agitation.
At an early date in his work, Dr.Sullivan and certain colleagues
reachedout for co-operation with social scien-tists. The interplay
of psychiatrists,child psychologists, anthropologists,and other
social scientists has cast abrilliant light on the impact of
cultureon personality formation. Among an-thropologists, for
example, the contri-butions of Ruth Benedict, MargaretMead, Ralph
Linton, and Clyde Kluck-hohn are representative of the best.2
THE USE OF MODELSThere is scarcely a corner of human
society that has not been seen in newperspective as a result of
modern psy-chiatry. One significant feature of thisdevelopment is
that while use is madeof careful observation, measurement,and
record making, quantification is_relegatedtoa ^ relatively
secondaryjiosi-
the
_
armquantitat ive ternis-Convincing'resuJts~carrEe obtained by
studies whichare but partially summarized in num-bers. An excellent
example of this type
BDr. Sullivan's work is best read in the pagesof Psychiatry, the
journal published by tat Wil-liam AJanson While- Psychiatric
Foundation, Wash-ington, D.C., with which Sullivan -was
connectedbefore his death in 1949. Ruth Benedict was pro-fessor of
anthropology at Columbia at the timeof her dealli in 1948. Her most
influential bookwas Patterns oj Culture (1934). Margaiet Meadand
Clyde Kluckhohn are conlributors to thepresent volume. For an
introduction to Linton. seeLinton (ed.). The Science of Man in the
WorldCrisis (1945).
THE POLICY ORIENTATION
of contribution to science and policy isthe report by Alexander
Leighton onhuman relations in a relocation campfor "Japanese"
operated by the UnitedStates government during the last war.3
The problem of dealing with com-plex relationships has given to
manysocial scientists more insight into thecreative use of models
in scientific work.The models majTbe in^roseTand.theycan be long or
short. The models maybe in mathematical notation and, if so,they
may be related to magnitudeswhich can or cannot be
measured.(Professor Arrow deals with the func-tion of scientific
models in his chapterin the present book.) Social scientistsand
psychiatrists have always derivedtheir most fruitful hypotheses
fromrather complicated models. Good ex-amples are the conceptions
put forwardby Freud of the oral, anal, and genitaltypes of
personality; or the types ofleaders and power relations describedby
Max Weber, who wrote at someterigth~on~~tbe methodological jx?le
of"idealtypes."' When one thinks inTJasicpolicy terms, it is
essential tooperate with models whose elaborationis sufficient to
enable the investigatorto deal with complex institutional
situ-ations.
The significance that revised modelshave for science and policy
was strik-ingly exemplified in the nincteen-thirties. The New Deal
of Franklin D.Rooseveitwas a brilliant success in thesense that a
far-reaching economiccrisiswas- met by "policies
which_\verefarsliort_of the: ^uthOTitananmeasuresofITTascigt or
CommunjststateT^l'his:re-sult was^chTeved7~mparf, because ofthe aid
which the government receivedfrom economists, many of whom hadbeen
liberated from the cramping doc-trines of classical economic
analysis bythe ideas of Alvin Hansen in the UnitedStates and of
John Maynard Keynes inEngland. There was nothing new about
3 The Governing oj Men (1945).
the general idea that the governmentought to do something if a
mass un-employment crisis developed. But theidea had no rational
roots in the pre-vailing conception among economistsof how the free
market system operated.Recurring depressions were thought ofsimply
as "frictions" within the system,and government action was
grudginglyj ustified when it was accepted at allas a means of
dealing with miscella-neous "frictions." The Keynes-Hansenapproach
was very different. Instead ofdismissing prolonged mass
unemploy-ment as a result of frictions, Keynes andHansen showed
that unemploymentcould result from the structure of thefree economy
itself. If left to themselves,private economic choices might
per-petuate the underuse of labor insteadof initiating new
enterprises to absorblabor. The implications for public pol-icy
were^ lobvi'ous : Sovc rumenvention is essential in order to
elimi-n"ate~uhempl6ymeDt and to"" set in mo^tion once more trie
forces of the freemarket.
This was a remarkable example ofthe creative results which may
follow,not when new quantifications are made,but when new models of
institutionalprocesses are devised, models whichcan unify
quantitative and nonquanti-tative observations and point the wayto
new empirical, theoretical, and policyactivities.*
THE CLARIFICATION OF GOALSThe policy-science approach not
only
puts the emphasis npori_ basic problems.and complex models, but
also calls fortha very cojnsiderable'"c|arincatioh of
_thevaluegoals involved _in policy. After
~an, in what sensels a problem "basic"?Evaluations depend upon
postulatesabout the human relations to be calleddesirable. For
purposes of analysis theterm "value" is taken to mean "a cate-
*Note the following title: E. Ronald Walker,From Economic Theory
to Policy (1943).
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10 THE POLICY SCIENCES THE POLICY ORIENTATION 11
gory of preferred events," such as peacerather than war, high
levels of produc-tive employment rather than mass un-employment,
democrocy rather thandespotism, and congenial and produc-tive
personalities rather than destructiveones.
When the scientist is reminded toquickly
has been shaped in a culture
heory and fact. On the doctrinal level,"there is theUemand to
achieve a worldcommunity in which the dignity of manis realized in
theory and fact. There isalso the contradictory demand to makethe
world safe for "Aryan" or whitesupremacy. In a word, there are
legaciesfrom the world of caste which prevailedbefore the French
and American revo-lutions gave impetus to the idea of so-cial
mobility on the basis oi individualmerit.
THE POLICY SCIENCES OFDEMOCRACY
It is, I think, safe to forecast that thepolicy-science approach
will bringabout a series of "special" scienceswithin the general
field of the socialsciences, much as the_desire Joj:ure
hasdeveloped a science of medicine^which
~is^distmcTlrom, though connected with,the general science oi.
hiology. In the
TJmtetl StatesTtheTnature^i such specialsciences can already be
discerned. Thedominant American tradition affirmsthe dignity of
man, not the superiorityof one set of men. Hence it is to
beforeseen that the emphasis will be uponthe development of
knowledge pertinentto the fwBer realization of human
dig-nfeyT'Tet'jus' lor convenience call Jhis
of the "policy sciences of democracy." Abundant indications
areathandlo'lend weight to this suggestion.
A glaring discrepancy between doc-trine and practice in the
United States
is the mistreatment of Negroes and othercolored peoples. The
Carnegie Foun-dation supported a comprehensive sur-vey of trends in
ethnic relations in theUnited States. The purpose was to dis-close
the true state of affairs, to dis-cover the conditioning factors,
and tostimulate policies against discrimina-tion. An American
Dilemma: TheNegro Problem and Modern De-mocracy, edited by Gunnar
Myrdal in1944, was the outcome.
The initiative for problem-orientedinquiries has been taken not
only byprivate foundations but also by privateassociations of
businessmen. Perhapsthe most successful example is the Com-mittee
for Economic Development whichwas organized early in World War IIin
order to develop policies whichwould avoid or mitigate a
postwardepression in the United States. Theresearch program was
carried out by astaff of eminent economists headed byProfessor
Theodore 0. Yntema of theUniversity of Chicago. On the
basis^p'fstaff studies which were published, thebusinessmen made
policy suggestions tothe government and to private organiza-tions
and individuals. Since the war theCommittee for Economic
Developmenthas been continued for the purpose ofdeveloping
long-range researches andrecommendations for the maintenanceof a
free-market economy. (The figuremost prominently associated with
theCommittee is its initiator and first head,Paul G. Hoffman.)
THE AWARENESS OF TIMEThe policy orientation- carries with
it a sharpened sense of time.
-
12 THE POLICY SCIENCES THE POLICY ORIENTATION 13chapter to
present in detail develop-mental hypotheses about the world
revo-lution of our time. In passing, however,it is templing to
remark that a dis-tinction needs to be drawn between thepattern of
the eruptive center oj a worldrevolutionary movement- and the
pat-tern of the world revolution of anepoch. Those who seized power
inParis in 1739 (and immediately there-after) were unmistakably the
elite ofthe eruptive center of that period. Butthe pattern which
prevailed at thattime and place was not identical withthe
revolutionary pattern of the histor-ical epoch as a whole, although
commonelements were present. It is apparentthat the elite oj^ 1917
in Moscow can becalled the~elite of the exup^jy f^fer >-,$our
time, but it is very doubtful whether
The pattern then prevailing in Moscowhas many elements identical
with theworld revolutionary pattern of ourepoch. Indeed, one of the
major tasksof the policy sciences today is to followin detail the
processes of social inven-tion, diffusion, and restriction
through-out the globe for the sake of estimat-ing the significance
of specific events.5
THE PROBLEM ATTITUDEAn additional feature of the policy
orientation is the importance attachedto the act of
creativeimagination thatJRtrtKJuces rMo^iehistoricaLproccss anew
and successful policy. SuccessfulTtJeas cannot be guaranteed in
advance.But .idTe^pj^blenialtitude^ can be culti-vated, which
increases the probabilitythat the thinker will act as a
maternityhospital for the delivery of a historicallyviable policy
proposal. Today the per-
EI mar be permitted to icier to my own -writ-ings in whkh
certain of these distinctions havebeen developed. Th& earliest
exposition is inWorld PoLiiics and Personal insecurity (1935).More
accessible is The Analysis oj Political Be-haviour: An Empirical
Approach, published in1948 in the "International Library of
Sociology andSoaal Reconstruction" edited by Karl Mannheim.See
particularly Part II. My 1941 developmentalConstruct of "the
garrison state" is reprinted inThe Analysis oj Political
Behaviour.
petual crisis stemming from the expec-tation of violence
(whether war orrevolution) calls for the greatest inge-nuity in
devising policies [capable of re-itucing the cost of bringing to
fruition'thealms 'oFa democratically orientedj)oiiCYj3ctence. This
is not only a matter~of improving the organization of theUnited
Nations and other official agen-cies. It is also a question of
introducinga current of salutary transformationswherever policy is
made.
THE BUILDING OF INSTITUTIONSThe policy scientist is far more
in-
terested in evaluating and reconstruct-ing the practices of
society than in hisprivate ratiocination about the
higherabstractions from which his values arederived. This choice
carries with it thede-emphasizing of rniKJl, nf J-tir tr^'tional
_baggag-j3f _ metaphysics andtheology. An example of what may
heexpected is the worjc j3J Jojm_Beweyand other American
pmTosophers ofpragmatism whojquickly rnoved lo thg_
diQn of "gpf.iflfl_("Dewey, for instance, launched an
ex-perimental school movement.) This in-TKnatiorT of the policy
scientist has beenexpedited by the logical positivism ofRudolf
Carnap and his associates, al-though Carnap has not personallydrawn
the implications. However, someimplications are reasonably evident.
Ifterms are intended to designate events,they do not have stable
reference until"operational indexes" are specified. In-dexes are
operational when they can beapplied by _an observer jjvith
descjjplJY~.intentions.coinpetencer qpd equipment,
"wUcT occupies an observational stand-point m relatiorn:o a
field of events to^
"EtTdescribed. The observational stand--pornT "is the procedure
used in enteringthe situation for data-gathering
("pro-tocol-making") purposes.6
"Besides Carnap and his school, Alfred Kor-zybski has been
v/klcly read. See bis Science andSanity (1933).
t)
The key terms which are used in thepolicy sciences refer to
meanings, andcontexts of meaning are changeable.The significance of
this is that oper-ational indexes chosen for key words inthe social
sciences are less_stable thanthe indexes usually employed
bv_jshys;i_leal scientists tpTJescribejhe events with~wHjchlhey are
concerned. Hence wespeak of the "index instability" of termsin the
policy sciences.
Since operational indexes are un-stable, it is necessary to
provide for con-tinuous surveys in order to keep opera-tional
indexes properly calibrated. Theobservable characteristics of
certainclass groups shift through time, for ex-ample, and it is
therefore necessary torespecify the characteristics which
areessential to the identification for de-scriptive purposes of a
given classmember,
The technical considerations whichhave just been outlined
reinforce otherincentives which induce social andpsychological
scientists to improve in-stitutions for the self-observation ofman
in society. One of the most cre-ative suggestions which has been
madeby and to UNESCO, for instance, isthe setting up of a
continuing surveyof international tension. Activities ofthis kind
are essential if we are toclarify the goals, trends, factors,
andalternatives appropriate to the policysciences of democracy.
The international polling operationswhich are now in existence
are im-portant steps toward providing moresignificant information
than we havehad in the past about the thoughts andfeelings of
mankind.
Closely connected with the setting-up of comprehensive
institutions ofself-observation is the use of pretestingprocedures
to assist in the evaluation ofpolicy alternatives. In the world
ofbusiness, pretesting has been carried toa high level of technical
perfection.Minor variations in the ingredients of
new products or changes in packagingare tested in a few places
which providesamples (in the statistical sense) of po-tential
consumer reactions. Personnelpolicies are sometimes pretested in
afew plants before they are extended toall the plants controlled by
a corpora-tion. Systematic pretesting can be ex-tended from the
market to many othersituations in society.
SOCIAL SCIENTISTS ARE NOT THESOLE CONTRIBUTORS TO THE
POLICY SCIENCESOne outcome of the policy science
conception which has begun to mani-fest itself in the United
States is a moreexplicit awareness of the fact that
socialscientists are not the only contributorsto the policy
sciences. It is true thatspecialists in social and
psychologicaltheory will improve the basic analysisof the
policy-forming process itself.But there is some recognition of
thefact that men of experience in activepolicy-making can make
greater contri-butions to basic analysis than the aca-demic experts
have admitted. Men ofaffairs often watch themselves aridothers in
business, government, andsimilar institutions with great
intel-lectual curiosity and objectivity. Someof these active
participants evolvetheories of the process that deserve care-ful
criticism in the light not only of ex-pert opinion hut also of
factual inquiry.Usually the men_ol actiorLlack the in-
"ceiitTves~ toarticles in which_their_theorjfs are_a^s.-
'tcmatizeaand confronted by availabledata.7 But it is enormously
fruitful forthe academic specialist to take some ofthese ideas and
give them the necessarysystematization and evaluation.
1 Chester Bamard_is _a exception to this state-
meri'tr-While in" acTTv'c'Tlnsine'gs'einiciilivc he pub-lished
the well-received The Functions of theExecutive (1933). Barnard is
now president of theRockefeller Foundation. The Committee on
PublicAdministration Cases (Social Science ResearchCouncil) has
built up case studies of policyformation by examining written
records, and alsoby interviewing the parlicipants.
-
14 THE POLICY SCIENCES
In order to bring the academicianand the active policy-maker
into fruit-ful association, new institutions areneeded (or rather,
modifications are
jrjeeSecTin existing institutions). Theseminayis already
utilized for this pur-
pose In many institutions of higherlearning, as in the Graduate
School ofBusiness and the Littauer School (de-voted to government)
at Harvard.Many national organizations of publicadministrators
maintain headquartersclose to the University of Chicago,
anarrangement that fosters contact be-tween t h e f a c u U v f - h
e U n i v C Tthe staffrnemben^of the organizations.TJecause~bi~ihe
rapid growth of publicadministration as a learned professionin the
United States, the interplay ofuniversity-trained intellectuals and
put-lie officials (and leaders) is made easy.Until recently the law
schools of theUnited States were wholly given overto the narrowest
imaginable conceptionof professional training. The curric-ulum
consisted in the memorizing anddiscussion of the decisions (and
sup-porting opinions) of the appellatecourts. In recent times there
has beena broadening of the curriculum to in-clude factual
information about thesocial consequences of legal doctrinesand
procedures. The Yale Law Schoolhas been a pioneer in this change,
evento the extent of appointing social scien-tists to the
faculty.
The policy-science approach has thefurther implication that it
includes, inaddition to knowledge about the policy-making process
itself, the assemblingand evaluating of knowledge fromwhatever
source which appears tohave an important bearing upon themajor
policy problems of the time. To-day, for example, thg know^pi-lgp
__qf_atomic jmd other forms of energy which_
Ts i "in the possession j>f 'the physicistsarid other natural
scientists has greatancl obviousrelevance to world
security.Creative interchange is needed between
the physicists, the social scientists, andthe men af action.*/
The cultivation of
'fhe~TechnjcjUe^trf~T)ringing about easyco-operation among
"interdisciplinaryteams" is one of the principal tasks ofan
evolving policy science.
SUMMARYBetween the two world wars, Amer-
ican social and psychological sciencesemphasized the improvement
ofmethod, especially quantitative method.There resulted a general
raising of thelevel of competence in the making ofprimary
observations and in the pro-cessing of cJata^. Recently there is a
tend-ency to takejmethod igiore f or grantedand to put iTip
JUV-PTI|; upon applyingmethod to problems that promise to
"make a contribution to policy. We canthink of the policy
sciences as the disci-plines concerned with explaining
thepolicy-making and policy-executingprocess, and with locating
data andproviding interpretations which arerelevant to the policy
problems of agiven period. The policy approach doesliet imply that
energy is to be dissi-jjal&cjjjn a mjscellany!__Qi-iaezeb'
topicalissues, but rathe^jhat, fundamental and _"oitenrieglected
problems which arise inthe adjustment of man in society are tobe
dealLvvith. The policy approachdc^snpMnean that the ^scientist
aban-dm^objectivity^iiLj^athfiXJng; or inter-preting data, or
ceases to perfect his
" ^inquiry_T "The^ policy emphasisTa1tsToTlKechoice of problems
whichwill contribute to theT"goa1rvame3~o
use of s
executing the projects under-Takeii. The policy
frameolT'eferencemakes it necessary to take into accountthe entire
context of significant events(past, present, and prospective)
inwhich the scientist is living. This calls
8 Successes and failures along \his line are often
noted iu The Bulletin ot Atomic Scientists, pub-lished in
Chicago.
THE POLICY ORIENTATION 15for the use of speculative models of
theworld revolutionary process of theepoch, and puts the techniques
of quan-tification in a respected though subordi-nate place.
Because of the instability ofmeaning of the indexes available to
giveoperational definition to key terms, itis particularly
important to develop
f specialized institutions to
observeanjjJL^reporT"\vol-ldrcrevcIopments. ~Thls~per- '
mits the pretesting of possible changes -
in social practice before they are intro-duced on a vast scale.
It is probablethat the policy-science orientation inthe United
States will be directed to-ward providing the knowledge neededto
improve the practice of democracy.In a word, the special emphasis
is uponthe policy sciences of democracy, inwhich the ultimate goal
is thetion of human dignity in theory and-fact. ' ~
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