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The Academy and the Polity: Interaction between Social Scientists and Federal Administrators

Comparative International Development

There is a developing literature on the immense topic of the relationship between the academy and the polity. One aspect of the subject, which has been relatively obscured in the shock of recognition that academics are in fact directly linked to policy research and to the whole policy-making government apparatus, is considered: the sociology of how academics view politicians and how the politicians view academicians. This study is based on research conducted in 1965 on academic participation in Project Camelot, sponsored by the Special Operations Research Office of the Defense Department; and in 1968, on those participating in the Special Panel Report on the Social and Behavioral Sciences of the Defense Science Board. The results present a collective profile of the interaction network between academics and politicians, revealing how these human encounters and ideological blends provide an understanding of the more general relation between the academy and the polity. Focus is placed on the problem areas key to both groups: First, the social scientists perceive problems related to (a) the financial structure of contracts and grants; (b) the norm of secrecy and data availability; (c) dual allegiance, i.e., how government work intrudes upon the autonomy of a science; (d) boundary maintenance between heuristic and normative aspects of applied research; and finally, (e) the payoffs and liabilities of intense involvement in social research for the government. Second, as perceived by the politicians, the problems appear different, if not dissonant: (a) the excessive demands by social scientists on funds without practical utilization; (b) the absence of any system for ensuring that results obtained in research are usable, i.e., the gap between proposal and fulfillment; (c) the demand for differential treatment on grounds other than those accorded other government employees; (d) the social scientists' demand for elite accessibility to recommendations that tend to bypass normal political channels of communicating; and (e) the high degree of marginal supplement employment of social scientists in contrast to other federal governmental sectors. In conclusion, the proposals offered for improving the interaction between academicians and politicians, which range from suggested rupture of the two groups to a complete merger in the policyscience approach, are examined.

The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Vol. 5, No. 3, 309-335 (1969)
DOI: 10.1177/002188636900500302


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