6 - National contexts for the development of social-policy research: British and American research on poverty and social welfare compared

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The nature of the influence of social science research upon policy making may be approached from different standpoints. In chapter 2, Wittrock et al. have sought to frame generalizations about the relationship in a longterm, comparative perspective. DeLeon (chapter 3) focused on the influence of exogenous events; Smith (chapter 5) looked at individuals and groupings and the structure of informal relations that link social scientists and decision makers. Others have done case studies of particular historical and contemporary circumstances to illuminate the nature of the interaction (see Banting, 1979; Weiss and Bucuvalas, 1980). This chapter follows a different strategy, attempting in rough outline a comparison of modes of social policy making in two societies, the United Kingdom and the United States, through a comparison of the applied social-research traditions in each society. Research on poverty and social welfare is taken as a case study, for the study of poverty has been one of the classic themes of the sociology of social welfare in both societies. Moreover, poverty appears to be endemic to industrial societies, whether their welfare systems are more collectivist or more individualist (Grønbjerg, 1977, p. 8).

Paradoxically, while in terms of state provision and levels of public expenditure the United Kingdom and the United States appear to have converged during the twentieth century, in the sphere of social-science research on welfare issues, these countries bore more resemblance to each other before 1930, while in the recent past they have diverged markedly in the character of scientific research on social policy.