This article from the new edition of Ciência & Cultura points out how concepts, theories and discoveries of the human sciences contribute to the formulation of public policies aimed at facing the challenges of societies.
Rise of a global capitalism, financial market deregulation, complex global power structures, proliferation of incessant technological innovations, formation of a mass culture worldwide, emergence of ecological, social and personal risks. These are just a few themes of analysis in the social sciences. Sociology, anthropology and political science have become fundamental actors in the dynamics of contemporary societies, as the production of their knowledge makes it possible to analyze and understand the accelerated changes in different spheres of social life.
The subject is discussed in the article in the new issue of Ciência & Cultura. In line with the “International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development 2022-23” (IYBSSD), established by the United Nations (UN) and UNESCO, the issue has as its theme “Basic Sciences for Development Sustainable”.
For Carlos Benedito de Campos Martins, full professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Brasília (UnB), the knowledge produced by the social sciences goes beyond the academic environment to increasingly insert itself into the daily life of the various national societies, enabling individuals to understand and reflect on the complex changes that are taking place at an accelerated pace and the possible impacts on their private lives. “If, on the one hand, the so-called ‘ hard’ sciences have provided scientific foundations for the production of new technologies that have been constantly transforming the world of nature and human life itself, the concepts, theories and discoveries of the human sciences have also allowed their intervention in social life, expressed through the formulation of public policies , aimed at facing the pressing challenges of different national societies”, he says.
The social sciences tend to play a relevant role in the public space by addressing issues such as class, gender, race and ethnic inequalities, by analyzing the macro and micro modalities of power and domination, by focusing on new forms of threats to democracy, by dealing with environmental issues, health, education, housing, urbanization, conflicts and international immigration and related topics. “Currently, the social sciences in Brazil are still active in favor of a democratic and more egalitarian society and, at the same time, attentive to their connections with the global field of these disciplines”, points out Martins.
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