125 



restraint in the making of claims of research results, higher standards 

 of disciplined research, patience, and humility — 



The long-term contract of the social sciences with society [he concluded] is 

 not to perform miracles but to bring to the study of man and his problems the 

 same objectivity and the same passion for truth which have in the past given 

 us some understanding and control of the physical world. ^* 



Present status of the social sciences 



It is evident that the NSF has moved cautiously into the social 

 sciences. Leadership of the Foundation has been predominantly 

 drawn from the physical sciences. The social sciences, in accordance 

 with Dollard's formula, have been obliged to prove their validity and 

 scientific merit to their opposite numbers in the physical, biological, 

 and medical sciences. 



That this has been a salutary process, despite some complaints from 

 the social scientists that they were subjected to undue discrimination, 

 is evidenced by the growing vigor and public acceptance the social 

 sciences have achieved. In 1968, a proposal to create a separate Na- 

 tional Social Science Foundation attracted considerable support and 

 generated a large volume of testimonial endorsement in the Senate.^* 

 At the same time, the social sciences won final acceptance in the 

 Congress — in the form of coequal status within the NSF along with 

 the physical, biological, and medical sciences. This was accomplished 

 in Public Law 90-^07, approved by the President July 18, 1968, 

 amending the National Science Foundation Act of 1950 to make 

 mandatory a division of social sciences in NSF, and to include the 

 social sciences explicitly within the scope of its functions. 



In the same bill, the Congress in section 3(c), instructed NSF to 

 "initiate and support scientific research, includiiig applied research 

 * * *. [Emphasis added.] The earlier congressional reservations con- 

 cerning the abUity of the social scientists to distinguish between basic 

 and applied research, and then* capacity for restraint in the applica- 

 tion of social theory, appear to have been removed as a residt of the 

 record of NSF performance and judicious selection of research, as well 

 as by the achievements of the social sciences since 1950. 



Effect of deferred decision on the Social Sciences 



The_ contribution of the Congress in bringing about this strength- 

 ening in the disciplines of the social sciences appears to have been a 

 helpful one. By making both explicit and consequential their reserva- 

 tions about the qualifications of these sciences for equal partnership in 

 a national science program, the Congress increased the pressure on the 

 social sciences to reexamine their own professional standards; at the 

 same time, the caution expressed by Congress to the NSF to proceed 

 slowly and in noncontroversial areas of the social sciences, resulted in a 

 solid foundation for eventual full partnership of the social sciences in 

 the work of the NSF. 



» Ibid., p. 20. 



94 National Foundation for Social Sciences. Hearings, pt. 1, op. cit. and pt. 2, June 2, 6, 7, 20, 21, 1967; 

 and pt. 3, June 27, 28; July 12, 13, 1967. For testimonal endorsement in the Senate see a statement of the 

 sponsor and a cosponsor of the bill: Senator Fred R. Harris. National Social Science Foundation: Proposed 

 Congressional Mandate for the Social Sciences. Article from American Psychologist, November 1967. In 

 statement of Hon. Gaylord Nelson on the floor of the Senate. Governmental grants for research. Congres- 

 sional Record (daily edition) (Mar, 13, 1968), pp. S2739-2742. 



