The Social Sciences Go to Washington: The Politics of Knowledge in the Postmodern Age
edited by Hamilton Cravens contributions by Maris Vinovskis, Zane Miller, William Graebner, Hamilton Cravens, Michael Bernstein, Harvey Sapolsky, Philip Frana, Howard Segal, Hal Rothman, Kirsten Nawrotzki and Anna Mills Smith
Rutgers University Press, 2003 Paper: 978-0-8135-3341-4 | Cloth: 978-0-8135-3340-7 | eISBN: 978-0-8135-5985-8 Library of Congress Classification JK468.P64S63 2004 Dewey Decimal Classification 320.60973
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
What happens when the allegedly value-free social sciences enter the national political arena? In The Social Sciences Go to Washington, scholars examine the effects of the massive influx of sociologists, demographers, economists, educators, and others to the federal advisory process in the postwar period. Essays look at how these social scientists sought to change existing policies in welfare, public health, urban policy, national defense, environmental policy, and science and technology policy, and the ways they tried to influence future policies.
Policymakers have been troubled that followers of postmodernism have questioned the legitimacy of scientific and political authority to speak for the desires of social groups. As the social sciences increasingly become expressions of individual preferences, the contributors ask, how can they continue to be used to set public policy for us all?
This collection is a useful resource for anyone studying the relationship between science and the government in the postwar years.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Hamilton Cravens is a professor of history at Iowa State University and author of several books, including The Triumph of Evolution: The Heredity-Environment Controversy 1900-1941, and Before Head Start: The Iowa Station and America's Children.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Social Sciences, the Federal Government, and the Age of
Postmodernism
Hamilton Cravens
Part I. The Social Sciences Come to Washington
Chapter One. The Social Sciences and the Invention of Affirmative Action,
1920s-1970s
Hamilton Cravens
Chapter Two. Statecraft and Its Retainers: American Economics and Public Purpose after
Depression and War
Michael A. Bernstein
Part II. The Social Sciences as Process and Procedure
Chapter Three. The Science and Politics of Defense Analysis
Harvey L. Sapolsky
Chapter Four. A Risk Perceived Is a Risk Indeed: Assessing Risk in Biomedical Research
and Health Policy
Philip L. Frana
Chapter Five. Progress and Its Discontents: Postwar Science and Technology Policy
Howard P. Segal
Part III. Have the Social Sciences Mattered in Washington?
Chapter Six. Environment, Government, and Academe: The Road to NEPA, EPA, and
Earth Day
Hal Rothman
Chapter Seven. Social Science Research and Early Childhood Education: A Historical
Analysis of Developments in Head Start, Kindergartens, and Day Care
Kirsten Dombkowski Nawrotski, Anna Smith, and Maris Vinovskis
Chapter Eight. The Death of the City: Cultural Individualism, Hyper-Diversity, and the
Devolution of National Urban Policy
Zane L. Miller
Chapter Nine. The End of Liberalism: Narrating Welfare's Decline, from the Moynihan
Report (1965) to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (1996)
William Graebner
Afterword
Contributors
Index
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Political planning United States, Policy scientists United States, Social scientists in government United States
The Social Sciences Go to Washington: The Politics of Knowledge in the Postmodern Age
edited by Hamilton Cravens contributions by Maris Vinovskis, Zane Miller, William Graebner, Hamilton Cravens, Michael Bernstein, Harvey Sapolsky, Philip Frana, Howard Segal, Hal Rothman, Kirsten Nawrotzki and Anna Mills Smith
Rutgers University Press, 2003 Paper: 978-0-8135-3341-4 Cloth: 978-0-8135-3340-7 eISBN: 978-0-8135-5985-8
What happens when the allegedly value-free social sciences enter the national political arena? In The Social Sciences Go to Washington, scholars examine the effects of the massive influx of sociologists, demographers, economists, educators, and others to the federal advisory process in the postwar period. Essays look at how these social scientists sought to change existing policies in welfare, public health, urban policy, national defense, environmental policy, and science and technology policy, and the ways they tried to influence future policies.
Policymakers have been troubled that followers of postmodernism have questioned the legitimacy of scientific and political authority to speak for the desires of social groups. As the social sciences increasingly become expressions of individual preferences, the contributors ask, how can they continue to be used to set public policy for us all?
This collection is a useful resource for anyone studying the relationship between science and the government in the postwar years.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Hamilton Cravens is a professor of history at Iowa State University and author of several books, including The Triumph of Evolution: The Heredity-Environment Controversy 1900-1941, and Before Head Start: The Iowa Station and America's Children.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Social Sciences, the Federal Government, and the Age of
Postmodernism
Hamilton Cravens
Part I. The Social Sciences Come to Washington
Chapter One. The Social Sciences and the Invention of Affirmative Action,
1920s-1970s
Hamilton Cravens
Chapter Two. Statecraft and Its Retainers: American Economics and Public Purpose after
Depression and War
Michael A. Bernstein
Part II. The Social Sciences as Process and Procedure
Chapter Three. The Science and Politics of Defense Analysis
Harvey L. Sapolsky
Chapter Four. A Risk Perceived Is a Risk Indeed: Assessing Risk in Biomedical Research
and Health Policy
Philip L. Frana
Chapter Five. Progress and Its Discontents: Postwar Science and Technology Policy
Howard P. Segal
Part III. Have the Social Sciences Mattered in Washington?
Chapter Six. Environment, Government, and Academe: The Road to NEPA, EPA, and
Earth Day
Hal Rothman
Chapter Seven. Social Science Research and Early Childhood Education: A Historical
Analysis of Developments in Head Start, Kindergartens, and Day Care
Kirsten Dombkowski Nawrotski, Anna Smith, and Maris Vinovskis
Chapter Eight. The Death of the City: Cultural Individualism, Hyper-Diversity, and the
Devolution of National Urban Policy
Zane L. Miller
Chapter Nine. The End of Liberalism: Narrating Welfare's Decline, from the Moynihan
Report (1965) to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (1996)
William Graebner
Afterword
Contributors
Index
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Political planning United States, Policy scientists United States, Social scientists in government United States