SOCIAL SCIENCE AND SOCIAL POLICY: ROLES OF THE APPLIED RESEARCHER*

Research on policy impact has increasingly focused on the practical application of social science research. This paper outlines four roles—substantive expert, information processor, change agent, and scholar—which have helped to increase the potential usefulness of our research while maintaining linkages to the academic community. This paper suggests the general nature of these roles and suggests specific implementation strategies, which need to be pursued as an early and continuing aspect of the research enterprise. Balancing these multiple roles presents several analytical and ethical difficulties, but helps to establish credibility in both the scientific and policymaking communities.     

GEOGRAPHY, SOCIAL SCIENCE, and PUBLIC POLICY: REGENERATION THROUGH INTERPRETATION

Social science, including human geography, is in uneasy ferment and in need of regeneration. Its researchers are subject to significant pressure to make their research policy-relevant, to link theory with practice, and to focus on solving societal problems or at least help manage messes. This paper comments on the discussion on policy relevance, the legacy of positivism in geography and policy practice, and the suggested roles and responsibilities of geographers. It also reviews ideas and experience regarding the use and relevance of social science research in public policy. Finally, it recommends one path toward regeneration, suggesting five themes requiring attention as necessary conditions. It promotes a movement toward the cases-and-interpretations mode of explanation and the method of reflection-in-action. Les sciences socials, y compress la géographie humaine, se sentient inconfortables dans l' état d'effervescence où elles se trouvent présentement, et ont un grand besoin de se regénérer. Leurs chercheurs subissent de fortes pressions pour luau plan des politiques leurs recher-ches acquièrent plus de pertinence, pour que la théorie soit davantage liée à la pratique, et pour qu'ils concent-rent leurs efforts sur la recherche de solutions aux prob-lèmes sociaux, ou tout au moins, sur la gestion du gâchis. Cet article se veut une contribution àpropos de cette question de la pertinence en recherche, sur l'hérit-age du positivisme dans les domaines de la géographie et de la politique, et sur les rôles et les responsabilités qui mombent aux géographes. lI examine aussi les idées et les expériences dans le domaine de la pertinence de la recherche en sciences sociales et de leur utilrsation dam l'intérêt du public. Enfin, il ouvre une voie vers la régénération en proposant, comme conditions essentielles, cinq thèmes qui devraient faire l'objet d'une réflexion. II encourage le recours à des études de cas comme moyen d'explication et à ta méthode de réflexion dans l'action.     

REVIEW ESSAY ON SCIENCE POLICY

Romesh Diwan and Dennis Livingston, Alternative Development Strategies and Appropriate Technology
Charles Kidd, Manpower Policies for the Use of Science and Technology in Development
Robert Morgan with Ellen Irons, Eduardo Perez, Theodore Souie, and Ava Fried, Science and Technology for Development: The Role of U.S. Universities     

THE ECONOMICS OF SOCIAL SECURITY POLICY

Books reviewed in this articles:
Henry J. Aaron, Economic Effects of Social Security
Peter J. Ferrara, Social Security; Adverting the Crisis
Carolyn L. Weaver, The Crisis in Social Security; Economic and Political Origins     

POPULATION POLICY RESEARCH AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

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VALUES DUALISM AND SOCIAL POLICY AFFECTING THE ELDERLY*

The impact of American values on social policy for and affecting older people is a little explored and complex area. A conceptual framework is developed which reveals the dual and often contradictory nature of the American value system. This framework sets forth the interrelationships of fundamental value-laden issues such as adequacy/equity, work/leisure and religious/secular.     

POLICY ISSUES IN AMERICAN SECURITY POLICY AND POLICY-MAKING USING AND CONTROLLING NEW WEAPONS

NATO may be confronting a crisis over the cruise missiles. Some allies may seek longer-range, nuclear-armed missile which could enable them to strike at Soviet MR/IRBMs and at other targets inside the USSR; others (along with many Americans) aim at restricting both the range and the missions of cruise missiles. The first option could jeopardize detente, inhibit further progress in SALT and conceivably weaken American control over the uses of nuclear weapons in time of war. The second could cause strains between the United States and its European allies. The best policy would seem to be to (1) delay any decision on cruise missile development and deployment in Europe; (2) seek a two-year freeze on all deployment of new nuclear delivery vehicles in Central Europe and of additional Soviet SS-20 IRBMs; (3) use this “breathing space” to seek agreement on the limitation of cruise missiles, MR/IRBMs and other “gray area” weapons in the region “from the Atlantic to the Urals.”