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.
Selcer
Perrin
P
Science, Technology, and Public Policy program, University of Michigan, USA.
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