Social Change as Applied Social Science

Abstract

Recently, there have been calls for social scientists to use their skills in the service of social change. Yet colleges and universities resist integration of the roles of social change practitioner and academic. Those who would integrate activism and scholarship face formidable obstacles in reconciling the competing demands of two very different worlds. This article discusses the problem of integrating those roles and examines the obstacles to integration in both academic and activist organizations. The authors argue that the most difficult barriers to overcome exist in the academic world, although working with social movement groups also poses problems. They conclude with suggestions for how activist academics can further integrate their roles and create a social science of social change.

Walking the Sustainability Talk: If Not Us, Who? If Not Now, When?

“…Second, being a scholar-activist is sometimes frowned on in academia (Divinsky et al, 1994;Wells, 2018). Critics say that faculty should engage in value-free education and leave their views of the world outside the classroom, as it is inappropriate for faculty to be (or be perceived as) one-sided, biased, and dogmatic.…”