Newsletter - Campaign for Social Science

Newsletter Summer 2013

Campaign gets social science into the global media The Campaign’s work to promote the social sciences publicly has achieved national and international press coverage of research into working mothers and their children. The Campaign publicised the latest findings of Professor Heather Joshi AcSS, which were presented at the launch of our latest Making the Case for the Social Sciences booklet. The booklet has examples of influential longitudinal studies research carried out in the UK in recent years, including her work. At the launch Professor Joshi, of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, said that her research showed that children born after the 1990s were not affected adversely if their mothers had worked during their early lives. Previous research had found that children born earlier than this could be affected if their mothers had worked full-time. But Professor Joshi said there had been a “generational change” for reasons including more maternity leave and improvements in the availability of childcare. The Campaign issued a press release

Above, Professor Heather Joshi at the launch; below, the audience about Professor Joshi’s findings to coincide with the launch, and this featured on the front page of The Independent and “i” newspapers, and also in the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Guardian, New York Daily, CBS News, Times of India and Jakarta Globe, among others. Professor Joshi also appeared on Sky News and the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. The launch was held at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, in London, where David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, and Polly Toynbee, writer and Guardian columnist, spoke in favour of longitudinal research. Around 100 policy-makers, academics and journalists attended the meeting. See next page for details of Mr Willetts’ talk The booklet was sponsored by the publishers SAGE, as part of its support for the Campaign. Its Global Publishing Director, Ziyad Marar, addressed the event. The Campaign’s Press Officer, Tony Trueman, said: “Professor Joshi’s work

CAMPAIGN FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2013

Welcome to the Summer 2013 issue of the Newsletter of the Campaign for Social Science We publish four times a year, with the next issue in the Autumn

was a good example of important social science and deserved media coverage. We invite researchers and learned societies who would like to publicise their work to contact us to see if we can help.” Tony can be emailed at: [email protected] For fuller reports of the launch and video, see: http://bit.ly/1bqJ9cu To read the booklet online, see: http://bit.ly/12gsp6C

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Newsletter It would be a tragedy if we couldn’t afford the social sciences – Willetts The Coalition Government is “very comfortable with the case for the social sciences,” and would maintain its broad base, David Willetts MP, the Minister for Universities and Science, has said. “It would be a tragedy if any minister in any British government were to say ‘we can afford the physics but not the social sciences’,” Mr Willetts told the launch of the booklet on longitudinal studies. The booklet, sponsored by SAGE, is the eighth in the Making the Case for the Social Sciences series, which is published by the Academy of Social Sciences and the Campaign for Social Science. Rt Hon David Willetts MP, at the launch Mr Willetts told the launch that the ringfenced £4.6 billion budget for science included funding for social science carried out at universities and research institutes, and the work of the ESRC and AHRC. “I sometimes detect a kind of defensiveness and insecurity in some people, particularly in the humanities, but in the social sciences as well,” he said. “[However] one of the great advantages and strengths we have in Britain is that, although we are only a medium-size economy, whenever the external assessors look at our research activity [they find] it’s very broad-based – we have the widest range of different areas of research excellence, and one of my aims is absolutely to maintain that. Especially nowadays, when connectivity matters and inter-disciplinarity matters, it’s even more important that we keep all the different activities.” He spoke about initiatives relating to longitudinal studies that he was involved in. These included the Government’s

decision to fund the 2012 Birth Cohort Study, which will continue a series set up to track the growth, development, health, well-being and social circumstances of thousands of UK babies and their families. This began in 1946 and has continued since, except for a break during the Thatcher administration. “This 2012 study is going to be the one that is most ambitious, and links some of the medical and biological and genetic data with social and environmental data.” He said that longitudinal studies should answer the question: ‘how much social mobility do you buy for different interventions at different stages of the lifecycle?’ He thought there was too much weight put on the assumption that the best time to prevent people having future physical or psychological problems was during their early years. “I’m not sure that’s necessarily the case. In fact, sometimes, given that government actions are imperfect, you might say it’s better to


address the problem when it presents itself rather than trying to predict 16 years in advance who’s going to have the problem.” He thought the 1958 and 1970 cohort studies were relied upon too heavily and that the literature answering his question was sparse. Polly Toynbee, writer and Guardian commentator, praised Mr Willetts for finding the millions of pounds needed to set up the Birth Cohort Study. Ziyad Marar, Global Publishing Director for SAGE, said that there had been “hefty attacks” on social science in the US, with political science being removed from the National Science Foundation funding. “In the UK context, social science is faring somewhat better,” he said, pointing to the launch of the What Works initiative. He told the audience that SAGE, with the LSE, would launch a book on the impact of social science in the Autumn. For a fuller version of this article, please see: http://bit.ly/16ULAE1

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Newsletter Booklet presents major work Important research presented in the longitudinal studies booklet includes work which inspired the setting up of a state-funded, parttime preschool place for every three- and four-year-old, and research which helped to ensure that those leaving care now have a better chance of going to university and getting a degree. Other important research detailed in the booklet includes work on: early years provision, savings for young people, preventing youth offending in Scotland, poverty and child development, the early identification of difficulties in childhood, and income changes around retirement. At the launch of the booklet Professor Diana Kuh, Director of the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, spoke about her research using the Birth Cohort Study, which has followed 5,500 men and women at intervals since their birth in 1946.

Professor Diana Kuh, at the launch

legacy of social inequalities in childhood persists right up to retirement,” she told the audience.

She found that by 64, two-thirds of those still alive had a serious clinical disorder that needed medical supervision. The latest research testing the physical and cognitive abilities of those aged 60-64 found that those raised in the lowest socio-economic class scored 6-13% worse than those raised in the highest class. “The health

The booklet, and others in the Making the Case series, are used to promote the power of social science to improve society. All eight booklets can be seen at: http://bit.ly/13bJ3HO

Briefing highlights social science’s impact Fiona McAllister, Policy Officer for the Campaign and Academy, (right) has written a Professional Briefing paper giving examples of the impact of social science research. The Briefing builds on the Making the Case series and features research that saves money or includes a cost-benefit calculation, or work which had a direct effect on legislation or the law. The case studies were prepared during the lead-up to the spending review for 2015/16, to illustrate the effectiveness of social science. Fiona contacted universities and learned societies which support the Campaign and received many replies. The briefing

summarises work by 15 researchers, or research teams, based at 10 universities. Among these are: • Work on how people may be best encouraged to extend their working lives. • Research which found that a key element in Islamic radicalisation was the belief that violence is a necessary and effective mode of action, and that this belief was likely to have been influenced by images of masculinity from gang culture, movies and other non-religious sources.

practitioners and the wider public, and led to their recognition in policy.

• Pioneering research on a hidden group of informal carers – those aged 16 to 24 – which has increased awareness of them among policy audiences,

The Briefing can be seen on the Campaign site at: http://bit.ly/176SYfM Paper copies are available from the Campaign office (address on page 5).


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Newsletter Work begins with schools The Campaign has expanded its work by beginning to promote the social sciences to schools and colleges. Roses Leech-Wilkinson, Campaign Administrator, gave a talk on social science and careers to 70 sixth-formers from the Sir George Monoux College, in Walthamstow, north London, and Woodhouse College, in Barnet. At the event, at Monoux College, Roses said that there were a large number of career options for social science graduates. “You’re not going to be unemployable,” she told the audience. She said that rates of employment among social science graduates, measured three and half years after they finished their first degrees in 2006/07, were higher than those among science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) graduates. “So don’t believe what’s said by some parents, teachers of other subjects or the media that social science graduates are unemployable: that’s just not true,” she said. “And three and a half years after graduating there is a greater proportion of social science graduates who are managers or senior officials than STEM or arts and humanities graduates – and almost two-thirds of social science graduates are in professional or associate professional or technical occupations.”

Videos show power of social science The Campaign has launched a series of videos to highlight the power of social science to change lives.

Above: Sir George Monoux College Right: Roses Leech-Wilkinson

Roses said that the Campaign website would shortly carry a report on employment rates among social science graduates. She told the sixth-formers that taking a social science degree would “teach you how to think on multiple scales – on individual, regional, cultural and societal levels,” using a critical evaluation of both quantitative and qualitative data.

The event also heard a taster on sociology by Dr Suki Ali, of the London School of Economics, and presentations by representatives of the Runnymede Trust on ending racism, and on its Stopwatch programme for accountable policing. Dr Stuart Isaacs, of London Metropolitan University, ran an interactive session with the students on the topic of poverty and youth gangs.

“Those are the sorts of skills that you’ll get if you do a social science degree, and you might want to study sociology, politics, economics, psychology, law – there are all sorts of degrees that you could go on to do with the A-Level courses you are studying.”

Roses’ talk is the start of the Campaign’s work with schools, which it hopes to develop further by offering information to more institutions. This is part of the Campaign’s remit to promote the social sciences within our society more generally.

The first videos feature four delegates at the British Sociological Association’s annual conference in April: Jaya Gajparia, Michelle Addison, Mark Doidge, and Simon (surname omitted).

The Campaign wants to carry out more interviews with people whose lives have benefited from studying social science – those working outside academia as well as inside. Suggestions for interviewees can be sent to Tony Trueman, Campaign Press Officer, at: [email protected]

The four talk about how social science has helped them understand (respectively) racism, class differences, the off-shoring of employment, and how to rebuild a life after a prison sentence. The videos can be seen on the Campaign site at: http://bit.ly/1aCzfXR

The Campaign will also interview public figures about why social science is important, and will post a video of Polly Toynbee, writer and columnist, on the site shortly as part of this.


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Newsletter Ian Diamond joins Campaign Sir Ian Diamond AcSS (right) has joined the Campaign and will lead our group in Scotland. Professor Diamond is Principal and ViceChancellor of the University of Aberdeen and was previously Chief Executive of the ESRC. He has also been Chair of the Research Councils UK Executive Group, the umbrella body that represents all seven UK research councils. Sir Ian was elected to the Academy of Social Sciences in 1999. In his research career, Sir Ian’s work has crossed many disciplinary boundaries, most notably in the area of population but also in health, both in the developed and developing world. The Scottish group has been active,

establishing good relations with senior civil servants in the Scottish Government, organising events and forging links with the Royal Society of Edinburgh. “To attract an academic and public figure of the stature of Sir Ian is a sign of the

Four more donors join us The Campaign has been joined by four more important organisations, bringing the number of our supporting institutions to 73.

growing authority of the Campaign,” said its Director, Stephen Anderson. “Sir Ian leads a group in Scotland which is building vital links with the Government, and this will benefit social science in the country greatly.”

To contact the Campaign: Website: campaignforsocialscience.org.uk

The latest to join us are the University of Bristol, Durham University, the Institute of Education (University of London) and King’s College London.

Address:

Campaign Director Stephen Anderson, said: “We’re very grateful for the backing of all of our donors. We receive no state funding, so our supporters’ generosity allows us to be independent and vocal when we put the case for social science to the Government.”

Roses Leech-Wilkinson, Administrator, at: [email protected] or 020 7330 9287

He said the Campaign was expanding its work by organising two events later this year: a day conference on crime and the media, and a public debate on the use of social science in government. More details will be given later.

or Tony Trueman, Press Officer, at: [email protected] or 07964 023392


30 Tabernacle Street London EC2A 4UE

To make direct contact:

Joanna Kelly, Administrator, at: [email protected] 020 7330 0897

The Campaign was launched and is supported by the Academy of Social Sciences, a company registered in England, number 3847936, and a registered charity, number 1088537

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