Social Science and a New Social Order

In: Journal of peace research, Band 8, Heft 3-4, S. 207-220

Abstract

The dominant emphasis in present social science has been description, explanation, & prediction. This emphasis, & the associated exclusion of normative theory, has been criticized as amounting to tacit support for existing institutions. An alternative role for social science is the deduction of alternative possible social orders from existing tensions & problems, which can then be empirically tested. A variety of utopian & radical sources are reviewed. One possible new social order is specified. Crucial to this order is a scale permitting face-to-face contacts & participatory democracy, within a framework of commitment to the satisfaction of human needs. This model should not be taken as a rigid prescription, but as a starting point for further discussion. Modified HA.