Social Empiricism and Science Policy

Demography as social science and policy science

Objectivity of Social Science and Social Policy

The fact that the points of view, not only of the contributors but of the editors as well, are not identical even on methodological issues, stands as a guarantee that the Archiv will not fall prey to any sectarian outlook. On the other hand, agreement as to certain fundamental issues is a presupposition of the joint assumption of editorial responsibility. This agreement refers particularly to t...

The Social Cohesion Policy Paradigm in Science and Technology Policy

While the optimism of this half-decade old statement of hope and confidence in the power off science and technology in overcoming poverty and inequality has been unfulfilled, it resonates strongly with beliefs currently gaining momentum that engaging in science and technology is “the trick of getting rich”. Sustained by widely shared notions about the increasing dependence of economic growth an...

SOCIAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY What is Socially Relevant Science?

Interest in the effect on society of scientific discoveries can be traced back to the beginnings of the modern sciences. It is plain to see that for reasons of legitimizing science alone, this question was not only of interest to the early scientists. Affirmative answers to the question of the practical virtues of science helped the first generation of scientists—and of course present-day scien...

Beyond Empiricism : Policy Inquiry in Postpositivist Perspective

This essay contributes to the growing critique of policy science‘s dominant neopositivist methodologies. Not only is neopositivist policy science seen to have failed in its effort to develop a usable body of predictive generalizations, it has been unable to supply effective solutions to social problems. An important part of this failure is traced to outmoded epistemological assumptions. Drawing...