The view from everywhere: disciplining diversity in post-World War II international social science.
This paper explores the attempt of social scientists associated with Unesco to create a system of knowledge production to provide the international perspective necessary for democratic governance of a world community. Social scientists constructed a federal system of international associations that institutionalized American disciplines on an international scale. An international perspective emerged through the process of interdisciplinary international research. I call this ideal of coordinating multiple subjectivities to produce objectivity the "view from everywhere." Influenced by social psychological "action-research," collaborative research was group therapy. The attempt to operationalize internationalists' rallying slogan, "unity in diversity," illuminated tensions inherent in the mobilization of science for social and political reform.
Science, Technology, and Public Policy program, University of Michigan, USA.
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D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003709:Democracy; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation / Q000266:history*; D019359:Knowledge; D012942:Social Sciences / Q000266:history*; D012946:Social Welfare; D014480:United Nations; D047789:World War II