 |
|
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
previous entry | main | next entry | TrackBack (0)
In praise of social science
Virginia Postrel is attending the Aspen Ideas Festival, and has a scabrously funny post on the opening festivities. Her basic complaint -- too many humanities types and not enough social scientists: [The opening night] illustrated a bizarre lacuna in the conference in general: a distinct lack of social scientists. The absence of economic thinking is glaring, especially given its dominance in the rest of public discourse, but it's not as though the lineup is full of sociologists or psychologists either. The presumption seems to be that anyone can opine on those topics, especially if they're experts in something else, and that there are no new ideas or discoveries to be found in the social world.This is a problem Brad DeLong encountered last month as well in the pages of The New Yorker. This leads to an interesting question: what publication outlets and/or bigthink conferences would benefit the most from an infusion of social scientists? And, just to be contrary, which publication outlets and/or bigthink conferences would benefit the most from an infusion of humanities types? posted by Dan on 07.04.07 at 08:58 AMComments: Well, since half my degree is social science and the other half is humanities, I'm inclined to say all of them in tropical or otherwise idyllic locations would benefit, as long as I'm doing the infusing. posted by: Doug on 07.04.07 at 08:58 AM [permalink]Social scientists and humanities experts usually can't get time off from their jobs at Burger King to attend three day conferences. posted by: Useless Sam Grant on 07.04.07 at 08:58 AM [permalink]Posting 20 minutes into your 15-minute lunch break again, Mr Grant? Back to the prep line, please. posted by: Doug on 07.04.07 at 08:58 AM [permalink]Doh! Busted again... posted by: Useless Sam Grant on 07.04.07 at 08:58 AM [permalink]None. What those publications need is an infusion of engineers. Seriously. Engineers are what social scientists aspire to be. Social scientists are humanities/gaia/eco-utopianists (i.e. humanities folks) with just enough scientific method to intimidate their non-mathematical brethren, but not enough scientific method to build bridges. Sk posted by: Sk on 07.04.07 at 08:58 AM [permalink]Well, next time I need a federal agency to fly, I'll call an engineer. Or maybe a travel agency. As someone who went to MIT, I can state firmly the very LAST group of people you want to put in charge of designing any social system is a bunch of engineers. Most of them don't know how humans interact, nor do they care. posted by: grumpy realist on 07.04.07 at 08:58 AM [permalink]Post a Comment: |
 Politics, economics, globalization, academia, pop culture... all from a
Main home page  Reviews of DanielDrezner.com: "Sharp but informal commentary on politics and foreign policy." -- The New Republic "Dan Drezner is terrific.... Excellent blog." -- Andrew Sullivan "Dan's stuff is always worth reading." -- Eugene Volokh "One of the essential weblogs." -- Gawker.com "Old battle horse of the blogosphere." -- Jewcy.com "Soft porn." -- Amitai Etzioni "Spawned grave atrocities and vast destruction." -- Glenn Greenwald "Monday morning quarterback... conservative robot... the very foundation of troubles in this country." -- not-so-random readers Contact me at: ddrezner@gmail.com (But click here to read my e-mail policy) Search the Site TNR's Open University Jacob Levy Glenn Reynolds Andrew Sullivan Mickey Kaus Virginia Postrel The Volokh Conspiracy Josh Marshall Crooked Timber OxBlog Real Clear Politics Kevin Drum Across the Aisle Economist's Free Exchange TNR's The Plank NRO's The Corner TAP's Tapped America Abroad Duck of Minerva Opinio Juris Brad DeLong Jeff Jarvis Mystery Pollster Mark Kleiman Meryl Yourish Megan McArdle Marginal Revolution Michael Munger Chris Lawrence Matthew Yglesias Hit and Run Cold Spring Shops Stephen Green Outside the Beltway Pejman Yousefzadeh Laura McKenna (11D) Elected Swineherd Phil Carter Joe Gandelman Winds of Change Andrew Samwick Greg Mankiw Dani Rodrik Roger L. Simon Tom Maguire Greg Djerejian The American Scene Post Global Democracy Arsenal Recent articles online "Foreign Policy Goes Glam."The National Interest, November/December 2007 "Rise of the Hipster Statesmen." Newsweek International, November 1, 2007 "The New New World Order." Foreign Affairs, March/April 2007 "Mind the Gap." The National Interest, January/February 2007 "The Grandest Strategy Of Them All." Washington Post, December 17, 2006 U.S. Trade Strategy: Free Versus Fair Council on Foreign Relations Press, September 2006. Complete online article archive Blog Archives June 2008May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 Academia Area studies Book club culture economics fence-sitting from Blogger globalization homeland security international relations law Mediasphere My very important posts New Republic outsourcing personal politics Sports The blog paper the blogosphere thesis ideas Trade and Development U.S. foreign policy website maintenance See full archives listing Recent Entries • Someone keep Fleet Street away from Bill Clinton• It rivals Buckley vs. Vidal, I tell you • So.... are the Clintons morons? • The New York Times didn't ask me, but then again, that's why I have this blog • Monica Crowley's jet black pot • Al Qaeda is losing • Speaking of karma.... • The blog post that writes itself • What made me laugh today • Where should Hillary go? Site Credits 
|