Towards a ‘single-minded’ social science that matters

Abstract

Social science is not as it should be – I think we have lost contact with what matters. Many scholars have made similar laments and directed their attention at disciplines in an attempt to mark out a more virtuous and effective future. Such attempts are valuable, but in taking aim at this disciplinary level they miss two important features of academic life. That is, while the social sciences are clearly more than the sum of their parts, they are still made up of parts – you, I, us, and other ‘rank and file’ academics. And that although our disciplines are multifarious, there are common features that sit at the core of all good social science. By focusing at these two levels, I outline the objective ethical and moral foundations from which we can each enhance our ability to produce free-thinking and free-wheeling but still rigorous research in socially progressive directions towards foundationally similar, if various, ends – a ‘single-minded’ social science that matters.