Suchergebnisse

Ce livre, Les sciences sociales au Canada, est écrit sur le contexte et l'histoire de la Fédération canadienne des sciences sociales, en l'honneur de ses cinquante années d'acitvity nationale. II est clair que la federation et les organismes qui font précédée, ont exerce une énorme influence sur l'evolution des sciences sociales canadiennes au cours des cinquante dernières années. L'histoire de l'organisme constitue sans doute le meilleur barometre des changements qui se sont produits dans les relations entre la societe canadienne et les specialistes des sciences sociales.

The Social Sciences in Canada is about the background and history of the Social Science Federation of Canada in honour of its fifty years of national activity. There can be little doubt that during the last fifty years the federation, and its predecessors, have had a substantial impact on the development of the social sciences in Canada. The history of this organization is probably the best barometer that we have for recording the changes that have occurred in the relation between social scientists and Canadian society

The Social Sciences in Canada is about the background and history of the Social Science Federation of Canada in honour of its fifty years of national activity. There can be little doubt that during the last fifty years the federation, and its predecessors, have had a substantial impact on the development of the social sciences in Canada. The history of this organization is probably the best barometer that we have for recording the changes that have occurred in the relation between social scientists and Canadian society.

The history of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE) has been profoundly influenced by changes in the role of the Canadian State. The introduction of social welfare legislation based on Keynesian economics was paralleled in the social sciences as the state adopted first a supportive role, then an active, interventionist role with regard to funding social science research. The inclusion of education in the social science field is set within the broader structural trends in society toward professionalization and utilitarianism. The dominance of human capital theory and the strategic component of the developing national science policy during the 1960s typify the latter trend. Asin other industrialized societies, the aristocratic ideal of civility has been overtaken by the professional ideal, which according to Perkin (1989) is "based on trained expertise and selection by merit.[emphasizing] human capital rather than passive or active property, highly skilled and differentiated labour rather than the simple labour theory of value, and selection by merit defined as trained and certified expertise" (p. 4). The predominance of this ideal in modern society is clearly linked to the emergence of the interventionist state and its emphasis on the public good.

The author posits a model that attempts to explicate in part the relation between the modes of economic and cultural production. The focus in on the linkage between the process of producing and reproducing knowledge units and the structure that is the distribution of power in society. At the center of this model is the process labeled "boundary work." Boundary work is defined as those acts and structures that create, maintain, and break down the boundaries between knowledge units. The utility of the model is illustrated with references to the development of social anthropology during the interwar years.

The substantive focus is upon the relation between Rockefeller philanthropy and the development of the social sciences during the period, 1910 to 1940. Two major propositions are examined. First, that philanthropic foundations attempt to maintain the social order rather than alter it. Specifically, that during the period under study philanthropic foundations were key institutions in both the reproduction and production of cultural hegemony. Second, that a "critical-conflict" perspective has most value when one is attempting to understand the nature and sources of change in the systematic production of both knowledge and intellectuals. Attention is focussed upon the process by which Rockefeller policy for the social sciences emerged. The policy is described and analysed. The ideological viewpoint of Rockefeller philanthropy as identified in the policy-making process is located in the wider political economy. Confirmation is provided for the two propositions. Hegemony, ideology and social class are essential concepts when one is attempting to understand and explain the role of philanthropy in capitalist societies.

Strayer et al. in this volume show that increases in cognitive workload caused by drivers' involvement in distracting activities that allow them to keep their eyes on the road lead to decrements in indices of safe driving performance. Although there is agreement that in-vehicle tasks that require drivers to take their eyes off the road increase crash risk, there is mounting controversy about whether in-vehicle tasks that do not require drivers to take their eyes off the forward roadway increase crash risk—thus the conundrum: How can there be an abundance of cognitively distracting activities and controversy about whether such activities increase crash risk?