Cambridge Suits Social Sciences

Cambridge has been the major location of this century's great advances in social science, according to a recent study on innovations in social science since 1900 compiled by Karl W. Deutsch, professor of Government.

The study, whose basic concern was "environmental group conditions for creative success in the social sciences" concluded that only certain universities and intellectual centers were particularly productive.

Harvard's emphasis on post-doctoral study and the pioneering work in informational theory done at M.I.T. make Cambridge more prolific than universities like Oxford or Princeton.

Whereas earlier work such as Max Weber's theories of bureaucracy or Lenin's economic doctrines were the results of individual research, most of the recent breakthroughs emanated from research institutes or "think tanks." Such organizations and government interdisciplinary institutes fostered an increasing number of advances.

New Visions

What constitutes a major advancement are a "now perception of relationships" and a "substantial impact that leads to further knowledge." the study explained. Amongst the 62 innovations cited were the works of Mao Tse-tung, Gandhi, Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Lenin and Henbert Marcuse.

A majority of innovations were the result of practical need or at least stimulated by social demands. "The continuation of ivory tower social scientists in the future seems apt to be minor indeed," said Deutsch.

Collaborating with Deutsch were John R. Platt of Michigan, a biophysicist, and Dieter Senghaas, a political scientist at Goethe University in Frankfort, Germany.

Chicago, London and New York followed Cambridge in productivity, as centers whose "external economics" and "presence of local subcultures" were particularly favorable to research.