The Social Science Monoculture Doubles Down
30th August 2021
Over the past 18 months, a number of significant events have occurred that were interpreted through two entirely different worldviews: COVID–19 lockdowns; rise of the BLM movement; the riots and violence in major cities; the US election process and its aftermath; and vaccine safety. Many influential commentators believe that these divergent perspectives arise from an epistemic collapse: that we have ceased to value facts, science, and truth, partly because trust in the institutions that adjudicate knowledge claims (universities, media, science, government) has eroded.
Many researchers in my own discipline, psychology, have rushed to the front lines, hoping to provide a remedy. But is it even plausible that we could help? Psychology, and most social science disciplines, are currently contributing more to the problem than to the solution. While psychology has studied phenomena such as myside bias that drive these worrisome epistemic trends, when it attempts to tackle social issues itself, psychology is fraught with bias.