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Consuming Social Science

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Governance, Consumers and Citizens

Part of the book series: Consumption and Public Life ((CUCO))

Abstract

To think about consuming social science is also to think about producing social science. This chapter considers various viewpoints on the production and consumption of social science as a publicly funded service that this contracted, delivered and consumed; and indeed questions whether it is appropriate to discuss social science in these terms at all. It considers how these perspectives relate to the governance of social science, and, ultimately, to the social science of governance.

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Notes

  1. For an account of how positivist assumptions ‘bedevil’ political science see M. Bevir, New Labour: A Critique(Abingdon and New York, 2005), p. 12.

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  2. D. Marsh and P. Furlong, ‘A Skin, not a Sweater: Ontology and Epi-stemology in Political Science’, in D. Marsh and G. Stoker (eds) Theory and Methods in Political Science(Basingstoke, 2002), p. 26.

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  3. C. Donovan, Government Policy and the Direction of Social Science Research, DPhil thesis (University of Sussex, 2002), pp. 21–2; p. 276. See also the discussion of ESRC responsive research versus research initiatives (i.e. undirected versus directed research, and attendant methodologies) which is the core question addressed throughout the thesis.

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  4. See also C. Donovan, ‘The Governance of Social Science and Everyday Epistemology’, Public Administration, 83(3) (2005), p. 609; p. 612.

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  5. D. King, ‘The Politics of Social Research: Institutionalizing Public Funding Regimes in the United States and Britain’, British Journal of Political Science, 28(3) (1998), pp. 415–44.

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  6. D. Braun, ‘Who Governs Intermediate Agencies? Principal Agent Relations in Research Policy-Making’, Journal of Public Policy, 13(2) (1993), pp. 135–62.

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  8. M. Bevir and R. A. W. Rhodes, ‘Interpretation and its Others’, Australian Journal of Political Science40(2) (2005), pp. 169–87; Bevir, New Labour: A Critique, p. 153.

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  9. See M. Bevir, ‘A Decentred Theory of Governance’, in H. P. Bang (ed.) Governance as Social and Political Communication(Manchester, 2003), pp. 200–21; Bevir, New Labour: A Critique, pp. 137–53.

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  10. See pp. 12–14, C. Donovan and P. Larkin, ‘The Problem of Political Science and Practical Polities’, Politics, 26(1) (2006), pp. 11–17.

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  11. See C. Donovan, ‘Science’, in M. Bevir (ed.) Encyclopedia of Governance(Newbury Park, CA., 2006), pp. 582–4.

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  12. V. Rothschild, The Organisation and Management of Government R&D, Cmnd. 4814 (London, 1971).

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  13. V. Rothschild, An Enquiry into the Social Science Research Council, Cmnd. 8554 (London, 1982).

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  14. Donovan and Larkin, ‘The Problem of Political Science and Practical Polities’, pp. 12–13; D. Blunkett, ‘Influence or Irrelevance: Can Social Science Improve Government?’, Research Intelligence, 71 (2000), pp. 12–21;

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  15. M. Hammersley, ‘The Sky is Never Blue for Modernisers: The Threat Posed by David Blunkett’s Offer of “Partnership” to Social Science’, Research Intelligence72 (2001), pp. 12–14.

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  16. Leggett, ‘British Social Democracy Beyond New Labour’, p. 11; and see W. Leggett, After New Labour: Social Theory and Centre-left Politics(Basingstoke, 2005), pp. 93–118.

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  17. J. Alford, ‘Defining the Client in the Public Sector: A Social Exchange Perspective’, Public Administration Review, 62(3) (2002), pp. 337–46.

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Authors
  1. Claire Donovan
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Berkeley, USA

    Mark Bevir

  2. Birkbeck College, University of London, UK

    Frank Trentmann

Copyright information

© 2007 Claire Donovan

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Cite this chapter

Donovan, C. (2007). Consuming Social Science. In: Bevir, M., Trentmann, F. (eds) Governance, Consumers and Citizens. Consumption and Public Life. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230591363_4

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