The State and Social Investigation in Britain and the United States

Description

The very meanings of terms such as poverty, unemployment, and inequality, as well as the data about them, have been shaped in inquiries undertaken either by or for the states. Through a comparative study of the United States and Britain, this book addresses the historical development of the knowledge base upon which the public policies of the democratic state depend. The book stretches from the Enlightement origins of the impulse to base legislation on scientific knowledge to the twentieth-century development of specialized institutions and professions engaged in social investigation and public policymaking. It probes investigators' biases and omissions as well as their strengths as factors shaping social learning, and ponders the impact on social investigation and social policy today of relativism, antistatism, devolution and privatization as these currents have developed in both societies since the 1970s.

"The State and Social Investigation contributes significantly to our understanding of the development and character of the modern state. Specifically, it makes clear the extent to which government is a producer and consumer of knowledge, operating through its own research and investigatory agencies, sponsorship of outside research, and interaction with non-government social scientists and think tanks described by Critchlow." Roy Lubove, Business History Review "This is a book that deserves attention...the time [is] ripe for the inquiries called for by this book." William R. Brock, Journal of American History "The editors have written a splendid overview chapter that sets out key issues in the relationship between knowledge and government. They describe the paramount significance of knowledge for making policy and for demonstrating to the public that policy is based on sound reasons." Carol H. Weiss, Contemporary Sociology