Political economist and journalist Will Hutton, author of the influential 1995 book The State We’re In, offers a state of the field report on the social sciences in this Social Science Bites podcast. Hutton, who was appointed in 2021 to a six-year term as president of Britain’s Academy of Social Sciences, addresses various critiques of modern social science – especially in its British incarnations -- from host David Edmonds.
As defined by the academy that he now heads, “social science is the understanding of society in all its dimensions,” and encompasses the societal, economic, behavioral and geospatial sciences. Despite that broad remit, the first question posed is whether social and behavioral sciences take a back seat to the natural sciences in the public imagination.
Hutton, for his part, says no – although he does see them not always getting their due. He notes that in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, yeoman’s work was conducted by social and behavioral science. “It wasn’t called social science, but it was driven by social science.” The same, he continues, is happening as Britain confronts its economic demons.
“Academic prowess is a kind of team,” he details. “You need your humanities, you need your physical scientists, your natural scientists, your medical scientists and your social scientists on the pitch. Sometime the ball falls to their feet and you look to them to make the killer pass.”
One thing that might help in achieving that overdue recognition, he explains later, would be if the social sciences themselves shared their commonality as opposed to denying it. “[T]he Academy of Social Science was established 40 years ago, because we felt that good as the British Academy is, it couldn’t represent humanities and social science co-equally. Social science needed its own voice. Four decades on, I would say that social science’s standing in the world is higher than it was 40 years ago. But if [a score of] 100 is what you want to get to, we probably haven’t gotten beyond 20 or 30.”
Impacting society, meanwhile, is how the sciences must improve their score (although Hutton acknowledges the vagaries of what impact looks like by saying “I’m not willing to castigate people if it looks as if what they are immediately doing is not impactful or having an impact.”) Asked what he sees as the “most fundamental issue” social science should tackle straightaway, Hutton offers four broad avenues to move down: Economics, governance, change behavior to keep the planet in good shape, and constructing a civil society of institutions that serve both individual and community needs. Among those, he concludes, “I think combining ‘the we and the I’ is the most important thing that social science can do.”
Hutton’s wide-ranging answers follow from a wide-ranging career. He served as editor-in-chief of The Observer newspaper, was chief executive of the then Industrial Society, was principal of Hertford College, Oxford from 2011 to 2020, and has authored a number of bestsellers since The State We’re In: Why Britain Is in Crisis and How to Overcome It. Those books include 2008’s The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century, 2011’s Them and Us, 2015’s How Good We Can Be, and 2018’s Saving Britain: How We Can Prosper in a New European Future (written with Andrew Adonis).
Many movies and television shows have as their plot some disaster that eliminates the United States government.
As a result, some low-level cabinet official becomes president, who then has to solve the crisis.
How accurate is such a scenario? What really would happen if multiple members of the executive branch were incapacitated?
Learn more about the Presidential Line of Succession, its history, and what would happen if the unthinkable were to occur on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
At least one hundred-and-twenty people are confirmed dead in Somalia following Saturday's attacks blamed on Al-Shabab militants.
Also, Nigeria's Government condemns the recent terror alerts from western embassies as 'irresponsible' and 'unnecessary', but where did such warnings emanate?
And how Guinea BIssau artist, Yasmine has become a popular Kizomba artist.
Those stories and more in this podcast with Bola Mosuro.
In this episode, the Goods from the Woods Boys are back together kickin' it at Disgraceland with one of our all-time faves, comedian and filmmaker Seth Pomeroy! We start this one off with a Ring Pop-flavored energy drink before launching into a chat about a Houston-based musician named "Viper" who has produced over 2,000 albums as well as a strange organ-crushing invention called the "Hornace of Death". We also chat Top 3 sub sandwiches, movies from 1999, and iconic classical music pieces. JAM OF THE WEEK is, obviously, "November Rain" by Guns 'N Roses. Give us a listen now. This is one of the greats! Find Seth on Twitter and Instagram @SethPomeroy. Follow the show on Twitter @TheGoodsPod. Rivers is @RiversLangley Sam is @SlamHarter Carter is @Carter_Glascock Subscribe on Patreon for HOURS of bonus content and growing ALL THE TIME! http://patreon.com/TheGoodsPod Pick up a Goods from the Woods t-shirt at: http://prowrestlingtees.com/TheGoodsPod
It is easy to condemn obvious wrongdoers such as Elizabeth Holmes, Adam Neumann, Harvey Weinstein, and the Sackler family. But we rarely think about the many people who supported their unethical or criminal behavior. In each case there was a supporting cast of complicitors: business partners, employees, investors, news organizations, and others. And, whether we're aware of it or not, almost all of us have been complicit in the unethical behavior of others. In Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop (Princeton UP, 2022), Harvard Business School professor Max Bazerman confronts our complicity head-on and offers strategies for recognizing and avoiding the psychological and other traps that lead us to ignore, condone, or actively support wrongdoing in our businesses, organizations, communities, politics, and more.
Complicit tells compelling stories of those who enabled the Theranos and WeWork scandals, the opioid crisis, the sexual abuse that led to the #MeToo movement, and the January 6th U.S. Capitol attack. The book describes seven different behavioral profiles that can lead to complicity in wrongdoing, ranging from true partners to those who unknowingly benefit from systemic privilege, including white privilege, and it tells the story of Bazerman's own brushes with complicity. Complicit also offers concrete and detailed solutions, describing how individuals, leaders, and organizations can more effectively prevent complicity.
By challenging the notion that a few bad apples are responsible for society's ills, Complicit implicates us all--and offers a path to creating a more ethical world.
The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday over two cases that will decide the fate of affirmative action at American colleges and universities. Jay Willis, the editor-in-chief of Balls & Strikes, tells us what’s at stake if the justices decide to overturn decades of precedent on the issue.
And in headlines: federal prosecutors charged the man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Taylor Swift became the first artist ever to claim the top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and Elon Musk is reportedly planning layoffs at Twitter.
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We’ll tell you the issues many voters say are at the top of their list one week before Election Day, and what a judge just ruled about two of the largest book publishes joining forces.
Also: a significant issue is now in front of the Supreme Court: what justices are signaling about the cases involving affirmative action.
Plus: the latest changes that could be coming to Twitter, what Instagram is saying about a bizarre outage yesterday, and Taylor Swift broke yet another record with her newest album.
Those stories and more news to know in around 10 minutes!
“Strictly speaking, race does not exist,” Fe Bencosme says.
Bencosme, author of the new book “You Are Not Your Race: Embracing Our Shared Humanity in a Chaotic Age,” says she knows her writings on race will offend people, but the reality is “there's no black race, there's no white race, there's no yellow or red race. These are ideas that were literally created by some taxonomist a very long time ago.”
Bencosme joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share her own story of struggling with the topic of race, and to explain why she thinks Americans have become so obsessed with it.
