Social Science, Social Engineering, and Public Policy

Eidlin, Fred; Appelbaum, Richard

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Social Science, Social Engineering, and Public Policy

PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATIVE STUDIES, O.P. Dwivedi, ed., Vol.4, pp. 203-220, Guelph, Ontario

22 Pages Posted: 17 Jul 2011 Last revised: 29 Aug 2011

See all articles by Fred Eidlin

Richard Appelbaum

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)

Date Written: April 15, 1987

Abstract

This paper attempts to take stock of problems bound up with the application of reason and social scientific knowledge to public problems to ask what role reason and social science can and should play in the formulation and execution of public policy, and to inquire into the nature and sources of disillusionment with rational debate and social science in contemporary society.

Keywords: public policy, scientific knowledge, policy science, social science, reason, rational debate, anti-rationalism, open systems, ceterus paribus, reflexivity, values, interests, public good, institutional inertia

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Eidlin, Fred and Appelbaum, Richard, Social Science, Social Engineering, and Public Policy (April 15, 1987). PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATIVE STUDIES, O.P. Dwivedi, ed., Vol.4, pp. 203-220, Guelph, Ontario , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1884399