The report was intended to persuade physical scientists and politicians that social science was important and that it proceeded from the same principles that guided the natural sciences. Parsons posted empirical achievements and proclaimed that such work grows in tandem with sound interdisciplinary social science theory. This argument was intended to remedy the invisibility of social science in Vannevar Bush's landmark Science—The Endless Frontier. But the Parsons report' became invisible, too. And therein lies the drama of The Nationalization of the Social Sciences.
The editors of this volume, which contains 13 essays crafted by distinguished social scientists, resurrect the Parsons report and refurbish it ("reworking some opaque and cryptic sentences") as a centerpiece to capture commentaries that bear on nationalization. This concept is used to show that science has become harnessed to the state, a process presumably leading to money, influence, usefulness and social acceptance.
Over the years, the text ...
