|
Part B
Directions: In the following text, some segments have been
removed. For Questions 41—45, choose the most suitable one from the list A—G to
fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not
fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
The social sciences are flourishing. As of
2005, there were almost half a million professional social scientists from all
fields in the world, working both inside and outside academia. According to the World Social Science Report 2010, the
number of social-science students worldwide has swollen by about 11% every year
since 2000.
Yet this enormous resource is not
contributing enough to today’s global challenges including climate change,
security, sustainable development and health. (41) Humanity has the necessary agro-technological
tools to eradicate hunger, from genetically engineered crops to artificial
fertilizers. Here, too, the problems are social: the organization and
distribution of food, wealth and prosperity.
(42) This is a shame—the community
should be grasping the opportunity to raise its influence in the real world. To
paraphrase the great social scientist Joseph Schumpeter: there is no radical
innovation without creative destruction.
Today, the social sciences are largely
focused on disciplinary problems and internal scholarly debates, rather than on
topics with external impact.
Analyses reveal that the number of papers
including the keywords “environmental change” or “climate change” have
increased rapidly since 2004. (43)
When social scientists do tackle practical
issues, their scope is often local: Belgium is interested mainly in the effects
of poverty on Belgium, for example. And whether the community’s work
contributes much to an overall accumulation of knowledge is doubtful.
The problem is not necessarily the amount of
available funding. (44) This
is an adequate amount so long as it is aimed in the right direction. Social
scientists who complain about a lack of funding should not expect more in
today’s economic climate.
The trick is to direct these funds
better. The European Union Framework funding programs have long had a category
specifically targeted at social scientists. This year, it was proposed that
system be changed: Horizon 2020, a new program to be enacted in 2014, would not
have such a category. This has resulted in protests from social scientists. But
the intention is not to neglect social science; rather, the complete opposite. (45) That should create more
collaborative endeavors and help to develop projects aimed directly at solving
global problems.
[A] It
could be that we are evolving two communities of social scientists: one that is
discipline-oriented and publishing in highly specialized journals, and one that
is problem-oriented and publishing elsewhere, such as in policy briefs.
[B]
However, the numbers are still small: in 2010, about 1,600 of the 100,000
social-sciences papers published globally included one of these keywords.
[C] The
idea is to force social scientists to integrate their work with other
categories, including health and demographic change; food security; marine research
and the bio-economy; clean, efficient energy; and inclusive, innovative and
secure societies.
[D] The
solution is to change the mindset of the academic community, and what it
considers to be its main goal. Global challenges and social innovations ought
to receive much more attention from scientists, especially the young ones.
[E] These
issues all have root causes in human behavior: all require behavioral change
and social innovations, as well as technological development. Stemming climate
change, for example, is as much about changing consumption patterns and
promoting tax acceptance as it is about developing clean energy.
[F]
Despite these factors, many social scientists seem reluctant to tackle such
problems. And in Europe, some are up in arms over a proposal to drop a specific
funding category for social-science research and to integrate it within
cross-cutting topics of sustainable development.
[G]
During the late 1990s, national spending on social sciences and the humanities
as a percentage of all research and development funds—including government,
higher education, non-profit and corporate—varied from around 4% to 25%; in
most European nations, it is about 15%.
Part B
41. E
42. F 43. B 44. G
45. C
|