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Soviet Social Science: The Challenge for the American Academic Community, Summary of a Meeting (1990)

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Soviet Social Science The Challenge for the American Acaclemic Community Summary of a Meeting Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education National Research Council National Academy Press Washington, D.C. 1990

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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of dis- tinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Frank Press is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Robert M. White is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Samuel O. Thier is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Frank Press and Dr. Robert M. White are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council. Additional copies of this report are available Mom: Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education National Research Council 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.~! Washington, D.C. 20418 Printed in the United States of America

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COMMISSION ON BEEIAVIORAL ANI) SOCIAL SCIENCES AND EDUCATION ROBERT McC. ADAMS (Chair), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. ANN L. BROWN, School of Education, University of California, Berkeley DAVID K COHEN, College of Education, Michigan State University PHILIP E. CONVERSE, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, Calif. ARTHUR S. GOLDBERGER, Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin JOSEPH B. KADANE, Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University EDWARD O. LAUMANN, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago ALVIN M. LIBERMAN, Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Conn. DANIEL McFADDEN, Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley STEWART MACAULAY, School of Law, University of Wisconsin DAVID MECHANIC, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers University ROGER G. NOLL, Department of Economics, Stanford University SAMUEL PRESTON, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania FRANKLIN D. GAINES, Lazard Freres & Co., New York JOHN M. ROBERTS, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh ELEANOR B. SHELDON, New York, New York JEROME E. SINGER, Department of Medical Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences JOHN ~ SWETS, Bolt Beranek & Newmann, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts SIDNEY VERBA, University Library, Harvard University . . .

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Foreword Recognition of the economic, social, and political problems facing the Soviet Union has awakened the Soviet leadership to the need for social scientific analysis to help formulate new policies. Glasnost and perestroika have also created the opportunity to reform and restructure disciplines and to build capabilities for basic research. Significant reorganization within the Soviet Academy of Sciences (ASUSSR) and other parts of the academic establishment is under way. All of these changes have made the Soviets unusually open to contacts with Western social and behavioral scientists. Dozens of new joint programs in all fields have begun or are under discus- sion. The opportunities are too great for any single American organization or institution to handle. Although significant roles are available for many participants, there is also the risk of duplicating effort and straining limited resources. The Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (CBASSE) of the National Research Council believed there was a genuine need to bring together scholars and representatives of funding organiza- tions and professional associations to exchange information and to think strategically about how the American social science community can best respond to the opportunities. With support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foun- dation, the commission sponsored a meeting on August 24-25, 1989 for these purposes. The National Research Council and the National Academy of Sciences have a long history of such agenda-setting activities and of scholarly contacts with the Soviet Union. The Academy has conducted the longest continually operating American exchange program with the Soviet Union; 1989 was its 30th anniversary. In addition, the 1988 NAS-ASUSSR protocol calls for a new cooperative program in the social sciences, prompt- ing CBASSE's interest in exploring how it could make its most effective v

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contribution. In sponsoring the meeting, CBASSE thus hoped to serve its own interests as well as those of the broader social and behavioral science community. In making public this summary of the meeting, it hopes to offer interested individuals and organizations a sense of the thinking of a diverse group of informed people about the possible roles of American social and behavioral science vis-a-vis the ongoing changes in Soviet social science, as of the meeting date. The commission wishes to express its gratitude to staff members Paul Stern and Jo Husbands for developing the concept of the meeting and producing this summary, and to Sarah Givens and Mary Thomas, who worked with them in planning and organizing the meeting. Without their efforts, the meeting would neither have occurred nor succeeded. Robert McC. Adams, Chair Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education V1

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Contents Background 1 Social Science in the Soviet Union: Current Conditions and Mends 7 Reports from Working Groups on Specific Topics The American Response: Ideas and Prospects Participants Agenda . . V11 14 23 29 32

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