Answer:
The social sciences don’t produce much in the way of patentable widgets or, indeed, life-saving vaccines. However, the analysis and insights they generate can and do underpin better-evidenced decisions and help guide and target insights from the ‘natural’ sciences. There is no point devising lockdowns that nobody will follow or developing a vaccine that nobody will take. Social scientists can help policy-makers and STEM colleagues develop solutions that people are able and, crucially, willing to follow through on. Work by social scientists on the effective, acceptable delivery of mass vaccination programmes, for example, might soon be highly relevant. Because they tell us important things about human behaviours, relationships and institutions, social scientists can help deliver these outcomes
Explanation:
Social sciences also have an urgent role to play in ensuring that the voices of communities affected by an issue are represented in discussions of it, and that relevant stakeholders are able to be involved in decisions that affect them. For example, we might usefully revisit lessons learned from anthropological work delivering rapid, real-time advice and guidance during the Ebola crisis which saved lives and reduced the spread of the outbreak. These and many other examples of the impacts of social science demonstrate the importance of having local knowledge, which the social sciences can provide.
This capacity to support inclusion is crucial to the work that lies ahead to rebuild things the right way rather than (necessarily) just the old way. A recent report by the Centre for Economic Performance and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (both at LSE) emphasises the importance of involving businesses and communities in developing a strategy for inclusive and sustainable recovery. A “better” post-recovery world will undoubtedly also benefit from the well-documented contributions that social sciences make in areas such as improving the resilience of our democracies and financial systems, exposing and addressing social and economic inequalities, and promoting good mental health and more sustainable ways of living
