Conference proceeding
The Mondale Theory of Social Science Service to the State
Society for the Study of Social Problems
01 Jan 1977
Abstract
Since 1967 W. F. Mondale has been urging congressional colleagues to enact a bill of his that would establish a Council on Social Analysis & an annual Social Report to the President. Under his plan social scientists on the government payroll would comment publicly on public policy questions with both immediate & long-range significance. The use of social indicators & social evaluations by the federal government would be vastly increased as well. Mondale has stressed the inadequacy of the social welfare & futuristic information on which Congress was operating when forming the Great Society legislation. His proposed Council on Social Analysis would be composed of 3 top social analysts, & a backup staff of unknown size. Its functions would be to gather data, begin social monitoring, evaluate programs, & interpret sociological findings to Congress. An annual Social Report to the President would be a method of publishing the new Council's work. Critics argue: that the 31-year-old Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) could accomplish the same task by adding sociologists to its staff, that social analysis is not as useful to policy makers as is economic analysis, & that there are dangers in over-reliance on "scientific" information usage. Revisions in the bill in response to these & other criticisms are described. A number of questions for research are raised, about the relevant lessons available in the 31-year-old experience of the CEA. How has its existence shaped the discipline, profession, & practice? The issue of how to provide countervailing power for responsible critics of the proposed CSA is raised.
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Details
- Title
- The Mondale Theory of Social Science Service to the State
- Creators
- Arthur Shostak
- Publication Details
- Society for the Study of Social Problems
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Sociology; Culture and Communication [Historical]
- Identifiers
- 991020705338404721