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What Future for Social Science?
Author(s) -
Schrag Francis
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
educational theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1741-5446
pISSN - 0013-2004
DOI - 10.1111/j.0013-2004.2004.0005.x
Subject(s) - status quo , epistemology , sociology , natural (archaeology) , engineering ethics , social science , environmental ethics , political science , philosophy , law , archaeology , history , engineering
Each of the authors discussed in this review essay deplores the attempts of scholars in the human sciences to ape their colleagues in the natural sciences and economics. Their criticisms are not dissimilar, nor are they without merit, but it is important to ask the following questions: What would they offer in its place? What kind of warrantability do the alternatives promise? Can researchers avoid the dominant paradigms and still have something valuable to say to policymakers? The bulk of the review focuses on Bent Flyvbjerg's Making Social Science Matter , the best‐reasoned critique, and the one that offers the clearest alternative to the status quo.