Social Change, Social Problems, and Demands for Knowledge

• Published in: Usable Social Science p. 293
• Main Authors: Smelser, Neil J, Reed, John S
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: University of California Press 15.09.2012
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Anthropology; Applied anthropology; Applied sciences; Behavioral sciences; Criminal law; Criminal offenses; Cultural anthropology; cultural change; Cultural diversity; Cultural studies; Development studies; Engineering; Federal criminal offenses; Globalization; history of the social sciences; Human societies; International development; Law; Political change; Political processes; Political revolutions; Political science; Politics; Psychology; Social change; social complexity; Social dynamics; Social evolution; Social issues; social knowledge; social problems; Social psychology; Social Research and Statistics; social revolutions; Social sciences; Sociology; System effectiveness; Systems engineering; Terrorism; Usability
• ISBN: 0520273567; 9780520273566
• DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520273566.003.0010

Why, we might ask, should human history ever have produced a situation in which society might find it necessary, valuable, and desirable that groups of specialists calling themselves social scientists should specialize in the production of knowledge that might be regarded as useful? The answer to that question is not self-evident, and any intelligible answer calls for reflection on many levels. At the broadest level, it is essential to underscore that, historically the social sciences did not simply “happen,” but have been the outgrowth of cumulative cultural changes in cosmological views of the world; changes in assumptions about nature, man,