A new report by the Academy of Social Sciences showcases the essential role the UK’s social sciences play in harnessing the many opportunities and mitigating the numerous challenges we face in our contemporary human world.
With their unique understanding of people, societal structures, economies, behaviours, governance and place at multiple scales, the social sciences are vital in helping to inform and influence government and societal responses to the many varied challenges we face in the UK and globally, including adapting to a changing climate, the rapid and globalised shift in technology use, and increasingly difficult decisions of cost, access and equality in public health provision.
The contemporary relevance of the social sciences, which is a joint publication between the Academy’s Campaign for Social Science and Sage, demonstrates how the social sciences are contributing to the wellbeing of the UK and its devolved nations and regions through eight broad principles:
- The social sciences are the understanding of people, society, economy and places
- The UK is a social science powerhouse
- The social sciences bring economic value
- The social sciences serve society
- The social sciences facilitate innovation
- The social sciences improve people’s lives by guiding good decision-making
- Social science subjects are open and available to all
- Social science skills are valued by employers and lead to well-paid careers
Each principle is set out in detail and is supported with evidence and case studies providing a taste of the great breadth and depth of knowledge, perspectives and positive impact that the social sciences contribute to improving the lives of people in the UK.
To ensure that the UK’s world-leading social sciences sector can continue to deliver for the nation and its people, the report also sets out two over-arching conditions which would support the sector to harness its full potential in the years ahead.
- Adequate and long-term funding of social science research needs to be secured. This is not simply a ‘more money’ call, and we are conscious of the many demands on government spending at the current time. The fact remains that the social sciences are structurally underfunded. Funding better targeted to the social sciences and a more sympathetic funding landscape, would be an investment in a sector which is already delivering for UK society and people, and which will continue to repay that investment through the contribution and impact it makes to the world around us.
- A structural step-change is made within the UK Government and its devolved counterparts to harness the social sciences’ unmet potential. Governments at all levels in the UK would stand to receive much more benefit if they better recognised and reflected the strength in social sciences, including but beyond economics, at their disposal and embedded it fully within their science, technology and evidence systems.
Professor Bobby Duffy FAcSS, Chair of the Academy’s Campaign for Social Science, said, “This report lays out the rock-solid evidence of the positive impact our hugely successful and world-leading social science sector in the UK is having in rising to the many varied challenges of the modern world. We believe that social science evidence and expertise improve decision-making, society and lives, and this report forms just part of the evidence base which helps to explain to government and policymakers why the social sciences need to be recognised further in their evidence frameworks as not just important but essential.”
Dr Rita Gardner CBE FAcSS, Chief Executive of the Academy of Social Sciences, said, “Addressing the array of societal challenges we face in the UK and internationally, and delivering some of the aspirations for growth in the UK’s Industrial Strategy, are firmly linked to the social sciences. This broad sector is increasingly expected to deliver world-class research for government priorities on very modest budgets. Investment in the social sciences is not a cost but an opportunity to fund a sector that is already making many positive contributions – as exemplified in this report – to do more to benefit the people of the UK and the wider world.”
Notes to Editors
For further information contact:
Amy Williams (Senior Communications Manager) at a.williams@acss.org.uk / media@acss.org.uk
About the Academy of Social Sciences
The Academy of Social Sciences is the national academy of academics, practitioners and learned societies in the social sciences. The sector’s leading independent voice in the UK, we champion the vital role social sciences play in education, governments and business.
The social sciences include: anthropology; business, finance & management; criminology; development studies; economics & econometrics; economic & social history; education; human geography; law; planning; politics & international relations; regional studies; sociology; social policy; social psychology; social statistics & methodologies.
About Sage
Sage is a global academic publisher of books, journals, and library resources with a growing range of technologies to enable discovery, access, and engagement.