Summary
This study of world society is designed principally for the student at college or university, but also for those generally who want to know about recent thinking among scholars. The studies of man, that is the social and political sciences, are becoming as difficult to understand as have been the natural sciences. This is because scientific studies move from observation and description to analysis and theories. In behavioural studies as in physics, there is first observation and then theories about the behaviour of the systems being observed. At this latter stage, which the social and political sciences have now reached, the scientists concerned use a language that is unfamiliar to others. Happily, however, as scholars become clearer in their own minds they are able to express themselves in simpler language. In the course of time laymen become familiar with many scientific terms and techniques. There is thus a meeting point at which it is possible to establish communication between the two. The basic essentials and jargon of space travel are understood today by large numbers of people. So, too, with International Relations' – the study of world society. A decade or so ago it was generally intelligible because it was, in essence, descriptive diplomatic history: it was concerned with government policies, diplomatic happenings, and the lives of diplomats and statesmen. In the last few decades it has become analytical. Models, mathematics and a special language have made this subject, which is of vital concern to everyone, the special preserve of a few. There are not many people who can read and follow the majority of books now being published about world society, and how it functions.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- World Society , pp. ix - xiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1972