Global problems need social science. Responding to an unusual job posting for scientists, mathematicians and “super-talented weirdos” to work for the UK government, Hetan Shah (would be chief executive of the British Academy ) warns that prioritizing science and technology over the humanities and social sciences will mean essential knowledge is overlooked.
Lack of data is a central characteristic of sociological problems. Even the available 'small data' are impure and difficult to rely upon. So, one cannot apply sophisticated techniques of so-called 'big data' to most of the problems in the social domain. For instance, we do not have data for domestic violence on women, and even if we do, they are certainly unreliable. Human insights will always be a necessity in social science research.
In my perspective, social sciences and humanities are necessary to understand, critically reflect on, and why not, guide, the societal development directions. Societies that don't critically reflect upon themselves and get too preoccupied with solving only technical problems usually tend to turn people into cogs in a machine.
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