Transdisciplinary Concepts and Methods
Becker, Egon/Thomas Jahn (ed.) (1999): Sustainability and the Social
Sciences. London/New York: Zed Books
Declaration "Enhancing Social Scientific Understanding of Sustainability" anlässlich der internationalen Konferenz "Sustainability as a Concept of Social Sciences" im Rahmen des UNESCO-MOST-Programmes im November 1996 in Frankfurt am Main
Deklaration "Für ein verbessertes (sozial-)wissenschaftliches Verständnis von Nachhaltigkeit"
Declaração "Pelo Desenvolvimento da Compreensão CientÌfica e Social da Sustentabilidade"
Policy Paper Sustainability: A Cross-disciplinary Concept for Social Transformation
Report on the preliminary results of the MOST-project "Sustainability as a Concept of the Social Sciences"
Project:
Sustainability as a Concept of the Social Sciences
Coordination:
Project team:
Prof. Dr. Egon Becker,
Dr. Thomas Jahn,
Dr. Immanuel Stieß,
Dr. Peter Wehling
Dr. Diana Hummel
Financing:
Duration :
1995-1997
finished
Sustainability as a Concept of the Social Sciences
In light of new kinds of global developmental tendencies and transformation processes, the social sciences also find themselves in a phase of radical theoretical and conceptual change.
In this situation "sustainable development" has become, since the UN conference on "Environment and Development in 1992, an internationally accepted model for environmental and development policy. Intended here is a new idea of societal development, one which includes the maintenance of a natural basis within it and is grounded on a sense of responsibility toward future generations.
The idea behind the UNESCO project, which is part of its MOST program (Management of Social Transformations), is to initiate a discussion within the various social sciences concerning the extent to which "sustainable development" can represent, as a comprehensive concept, a response to the new problem situation.
The tasks of the project, then, are, first, to initiate a process of discussion and reflection within the different social scientific disciplines concerning whether and, if so, how "sustainable development" can be formulated as a viable concept for the social sciences; and, second, to develop project ideas which, in the course of the discussions that have been started, can be set up over the long run within the social sciences.
For 1996 a symposium has been planned to which approximately 20 social scientists, selected from around the world from various disciplines and countries, have been invited to attend and to submit papers in preparation. The focus of the symposium consists of four points:
- to investigate the possibility of an environmentally friendly, socially just and democratic model of development which is limited neither to economic rationalization nor technical modernization
- to work out new systems of indicators for the operationalization, evaluation and auditing of development processes and strategies for action
- to work out the theoretical and methodological consequences of the adaption of "sustainable development" within the social sciences
- to improve interdisciplinary cooperation among the social sciences and also between the social sciences and the natural sciences.
Moreover, other important goals are the formulation of further research needs, and the sketching of future international research programs.
Further Information about the project - declaration