Toward building the social sciences for the 21st century
Dahrendorf Forum Academic Co-Director Helmut Anheier founds and serves as Editor-in-Chief for Global Perspectives, a new flagship journal from the University of California Press. Global Perspectives is an online-only, peer-reviewed, transdisciplinary journal seeking to advance social science research and debates in a globalizing world, specifically in terms of concepts, theories, methodologies, and evidence bases. Work published in the journal is enriched by invited perspectives that enhance its global and interdisciplinary implications.
As part of his work founding and editing the journal, Anheier has authored two pieces on the future of the social sciences. The first, titled “Introducing Global Perspectives: An Editorial Essay”, was co-authored with the 7 other section editors. It provides a background of the evolution of the social sciences, tracing their development from medieval antecedents to the foundation of the modern disciplines to the present-day era of globalisation. The authors argue that methodological nationalism and disciplinary silos constrain the modern social sciences, and reason for a transdisciplinary and truly global research agenda.
As editor of the Cultures, Values, and Identities section, Anheier has also written an introductory essay for this section, titled “Cultures, Values, and Identities: What Are the Issues?” In this article, Anheier cautions against either treating culture as a mere ‘residual’ object of study, but also argues that seeing it as an all-encompassing explanation is similarly flawed. Instead, culture should be studied in all its complexity, especially with regard to its intersection with other phenomena and its relationship with globalisation.
Articles are available without a paywall for the time being.
Anheier is assisted by Dahrendorf Forum Research Associate Edward Knudsen, who also serves as Editorial Assistant for Global Perspectives.
