The social sciences: As perceived by their pursuers

Pages: 42-45
Shubhdip Kaur, Damanjit Sandhu and Haroon Shafiq (Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India)

The position of Social Sciences in today’s society is not satisfactory. Promoting young researchers in long term social research is difficult. The aim of this investigation was to study the perceived status of social sciences in today’s society from its pursuers’ perspective. The study focused primarily on students pursuing any of the social sciences at masters or higher levels. Around 100 students within the age range of 22-30 years from various colleges or universities were surveyed. The results obtained revealed that most of the pursuers had experienced society’s narrow vision towards their subjects. Due to the perception of society towards these subjects, these pursuers feel that there is no positive scope for social sciences in our society. Surprisingly around 91% of the pursuers were satisfied with their streams. Thus although there is little societal acceptance for the subjects of social sciences its pursuers acknowledge their subjects fully and have high acceptance for them. They are just disappointed with the lack of awareness society and people have regarding the importance of social sciences. But the truth is that the role of social sciences cannot be negated, for theirs is a role of healthy nation building. The need is to bring in spotlight their contributions and how their research outcomes can be used to improve our society.