A 21st Century Interdisciplinary Social Science

Abstract

Global trends initiated in the 20th Century are continuing unabated into the 21st Century and are transforming human society. These trends include the information explosion fueled by science and technology, the unrelenting population explosion, limited and un-replenished natural resources, global warming and pollution, fluctuating financial markets and the evolving global economy, rising cultural expectations, and democratic revolutions. Lifestyles, identities, work patterns, consumer trends, organization, institutions, and nation-states can all be expected to change and adapt to the realities of the 21st Century. The social sciences will be no exception as indicated by the following: 1) global trends and oscillations will pressure the social sciences to become increasingly pragmatic and applied; 2) the progression of pragmatism in the social sciences will necessitate, in turn, shifting from the ideal of a classical model of science to the reality of a stochastic model of social science; and 3) an explicitly stochastic model of social science will lead to technological innovations, profound changes in how we do science (e.g., the emergence of interdisciplinary teams), and require a new code of ethics (i.e., how we conduct ourselves as social scientists). The overwhelming realities of the 21st Century will compel social scientists to rethink social science in terms of its relevance and credibility. Social science is standing at the cross-roads.