Social Science Problems and Programme

Abstract

WHEN the Council of the British Association meets next month, it will have before it the approval by the General Committee at the Cambridge meeting of the recommendation to create a new Division to deal with the social and international relations of science. So far, during the century or more of its existence, the work of the Association under the administration of the Council and subject to the approval of policy by the General Committee, has been carried on through the Sections, each dealing with a particular branch of science and meeting only once a year. As is implied by the deliberate choice of the term Division, the new organization is intended to operate on somewhat different lines, being intimately affiliated with the Association but semi-autonomous. Much preliminary work will be required before the precise form and activities of the Division can be determined ; but the main object of the Division, to further the objective study of the social relations of science, offers ample scope for undertaking research, including factual studies on the organization of science and its social and economic relations, for discussion of the social aspect of science, the consideration of the public relations of science, and for consultative work or as a co-ordinating centre and information bureau.