Abstract
There was a time when it was hoped that the application of the scientific method to social issues would produce solutions as objective and conclusive as those of the natural sciences. In spite of the operation of an ‘uncertainty principle’, even in physics at the sub-atomic level1 we have become used to making predictions in physical science with a high level of certainty. To take a rudimentary example, chemists would be disconcerted, to say the least, if the burning of hydrogen in oxygen did not eventuate in the production of water. Consequently, many people confidently looked forward to the time when we should gain the kind of control over our social environment and our human problems which science has given us over our physical world.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes and References
Bertrand Russell, Human Knowledge: its Scope and Limits (London: Allen & Unwin, 1948) pp. 38–9, 439 ff.
M. Jahoda, M. Deutsch and S. W. Cook, Research Methods in Social Relations (New York: Drydan Press, 1958) p. 60.
H. Mannheim and L. T. Wilkins, Prediction Studies in Relation to Borstal Training (London: H.M.S.O., 1965).
Lionel Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science (London: Macmillan, 1952) p. 147.
I. M. D. Little, A Critique of Welfare Economics (Oxford University Press, 1963) esp. chs IV, V.
Margaret Mead, Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies (New York: Mentor, 1958);
A. Kardiner, Psychological Frontiers of Society (New York: Columbia, 1963) esp. ch. VIII.
Josephine Klein, Sample from English Cultures (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1965).
See, for example, D. K. Henderson and R. D. Gillespie, A Textbook of Psychiatry (Oxford University Press, 1962) p. 326.
Max Weber, Methodology of the Social Sciences (New York: The Free Press, 1949).
E. Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method (New York: The Free Press, 1962).
I. Taylor, P. Walton and J. Young (eds), Critical Criminology (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975).
W. G. Runciman, Relative Deprivation and Social Justice (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966).
K. Coates and R. Silburn, Poverty: the Forgotten Englishmen (Harmonds-worth: Penguin, 1970) pp. 185–6.
R. K. Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure (New York: The Free Press, 1961) p. 51.
Karl Mannheim, Ideology and Utopia (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972).
G. Rusche and O. Kirchheimer, Punishment and Social Structure (New York: Columbia, 1939).
Immanuel Kant, Metaphysic of Morals (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1971).
Jeremy Bentham, Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (London: Athlone Press, 1970);
for a modern exposition, see Anthony Quinton, Utilitarian Ethics (London: Macmillan, 1973).
Klein, Samples from English Cultures (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1965).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1977 Helmuth Heisler, John Carrier, Bleddyn Davies, Neil Fraser, Howard Jones, Peter Kaim-Caudle, Ian Kendall, Thomas McPherson, Della Adam Nevitt, Muriel Nissel, Barbara Rodgers, J. D. Stewart, George F. Thomason
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jones, H. (1977). Value Choices in Social Administration. In: Heisler, H. (eds) Foundations of Social Administration. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-86159-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-86159-0_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-18648-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-86159-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)