Philip Lowe Why social scientists should engage with natural scientists.

Philip Lowe

Why social scientists should engage with natural scientists

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

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

What can social science contribute today?

Sex all in the mind for womenby 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.

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

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

Managerialism or profligacy?

• Dominant discourse is one of managerialism

• Institutional failure and population growth

• Neo-Malthusian approach

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”

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

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

New opportunities for social sciences?

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

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