The Poor Relation A History of Social Sciences in Australia

To face the national emergency of World War II, the Australian government needed to plan and manage a wartime economy and society. To satisfy post-war expectations and advance the nation-building project, the country required new kinds of expertise. The social sciences were established in this country's universities after World War II to meet this need. They grew rapidly in faculties of arts, economics and commerce, education and law, so that by the 1970s they taught a majority of students. Australian research created new understandings of Australia and its place in the world, informed and challenged government and society. Drawing on the activities of the Social Science Research Council and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, this book explores the fortunes of the social sciences over the past six decades. It investigates the work of social scientists: who they were, what they did and how they did it. The book is particularly concerned with the provision for the social sciences. It relates the fortunes of the Australian university, the changing expectations of government and the dramatic changes in higher education and research policy. The book explains how policies designed to promote innovation have been tailored to science and technology at the expense of other forms of knowledge. It asks why Australia has persisted with such policy failure and argues for an alternative approach to unlock the potential of the social sciences.

Stuart Macintyre is the Ernest Scott Professor of History at the University of Melbourne and the author of The History Wars. He is a former president of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a current member of the Advisory Council of the Australian Research Council.