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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

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Philip Lowe Why social scientists should engage with natural scientists

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  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 science will give us the answers we need to secure order and prosperity • 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

  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?

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