A Note on the Seventieth Anniversary of Social Research

Bob Kerrey A Note on the Seventieth Anniversary of Social Research FOR SIX DECADES SOCIAL RESEARCH HAS CARRIED THE VOICES OF MEN and women who have explored fundam ental human issues such as hate, love, violence, and altruism in ways that have forced the authors, and enabled their readers, to think beyond their disciplines. Such thinking is the essence of what the Graduate Faculty and the New School strive to promote. Social Research and the New School for Social Research seek to avoid the obscure tone of specialized schol­ arship, and make im portant new ideas available to a broad public beyond the academy. Crossing borders, both disciplinary and geographic, has always been a special strength of Social Research. In its first 50 years, the best of European critical thought and the most complex of American ideas and experiences met in the pages of the journal, as did their authors. In this regard, Social Research captured the spirit of encounter that the founders of the University in Exile brought to the United States. Something of the moral authority of the University in Exile still inhabits the pages of the journal, as its authors leave familiar places and doctrines to explore new questions and build new intellectual homes. As we move into the seventh decade in the life of Social Research, it is possible to detect in its eclecticism a certain stubborn interest in the ways that human passions—base or noble—invariably compete with human interests—narrow or broad. The journal retains its ability to social research Vol 71 : No 3 : Fall 2 004 ix bring philosophy to life through its dialogue with the social sciences, and to keep the social sciences honest by infusing the theoretical with the empirical findings of psychology and biology. As we look back, we acknowledge that this is no mean feat. As we look ahead, we are fortu­ nate that it is not a finished project. Today, we live in a world in which political discourse has broken free of physical limitations as a consequence of the World Wide Web. However, fear and lack of imagination have always been greater barri­ ers than geography. And, in a highly technological world that values speed and entertainment above all else, Social Research’s insistence that we face our nature as human beings, as well as the nature of our rela­ tionships, is potentially more valuable than when the journal began. We hope that its potential becomes the catalyst for greater understand­ ing, and that greater understanding yields creative action. Bob Kerrey, President, New Schoolfor Social Research x social research ...