Scientific research on contemporary issues is itself shaped by its own climate.

Evidence

Unquestionably there was some gratification for American social psychology during this period in the theory of the authoritarian personality which exposed the fear, the stupidity, and the sadism in nationalistic and reactionary politics. Was there perhaps also some distortion of truth in the service of values? If so, it was not so blatant as Jaensch’s, not so obviously unsupported by evidence, not in the service of the state, perhaps not there at all. Still the authors of the 1950 study were not much interested in what has come to be called authoritarianism of the left. Interest in authoritarianism of the left apparently had to wait upon a change of the political climate, a time when disillusionment with communism was general among American intellectuals. It is not easy to do sound social psychological research on contemporary issues because any finding is, in these circumstances, a social force. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 434

Categorization

• XREF: Mirrors the reader’s Frankfurt School material on Critical Theory being suppressed for ideological reasons—and the reflexive point that a finding is a social force parallels the strategic-essentialism worry that critique can reify what it names. — connects to: Political climate shapes which research questions scholars dare to ask; Science and society mutually constitute each other rather than existing separately — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1599; Scientists lose objectivity when the subject of study is their own perception — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2061 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Political climate shapes which research questions scholars dare to ask #exemplifies (0.92)
• A scientific framework’s presuppositions are culturally and historically conditioned #exemplifies (0.85) — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 148
• Science and society mutually constitute each other rather than existing separately #expands (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1599
• Critical Theory held that researchers are part of the social object they study #corroborates (0.78) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 299
• Scientists lose objectivity when the subject of study is their own perception #complicates (0.75) — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 2061
• The basis-problem dissolves when research is seen as socially institutionalized labour #expands (0.72) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2420