“This book demonstrates the key role of the social sciences in understanding the challenges we face as a country and as a society.” 
—Dame Julia Black, President of the British Academy, UK

“It is often said the world will in future be shaped by technology and the natural sciences. But technology is only a tool; it is how we as humans use it that will shape societies. That underscores the importance of the social sciences in shaping our future.” 
—Andy Haldane, Chief Executive of the RSA, UK

“The world’s crises can seem overwhelming. Why the Social Sciences Matter delivers clear, insightful and compelling answers to today's most pressing questions.” 
—Robert Pollin, author of Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal

“This book brilliantly highlights the importance of the social sciences in analysing societal and economic developments systematically, helping shape effective policy responses.” 
—Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1%

From climate change and inequality to migration and global conflict, this book explores the defining challenges of our time. Revised and featuring nine new chapters, it brings together top scholars to demonstrate how the social sciences help us make sense of complex events and global trends. With fresh insights into climate justice, populism, productivity, sustainable development, and social wellbeing, it reveals how these issues are deeply interconnected.

Supported by the Academy for Social Sciences, the book shows how disciplines such as economics, education, political science, psychology, and sociology are essential for understanding developments that may seem purely technological or natural. It champions interdisciplinary collaboration to ensure science, technology, and policy serve the public good. Whether you're a curious reader, policymaker, or academic, this book makes a compelling case for why the social sciences matter now more than ever—and how understanding human behaviour and society can help shape a better future.

With contributions by: Howard Newby, Jonathan Michie, Cary L. Cooper, Jayati Ghosh, Joshua Lincoln, Oz Hassan, Robin Cohen, Iyiola Solanke, Bart van Ark, Mary O’Mahony, Dirk Pilat, James Campbell Quick, Robert J. Gatchel, Camilla Toulmin, Dave Cowan, Sally Wheeler, Mike Hough, Andreas J. Stylianides, Gabriel J. Stylianides, Marya Besharov, Catherine Hasted and Will Hutton.

Jonathan Michie OBE FAcSS is Professor of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Oxford, UK.
Sir Cary L. Cooper CBE FAcSS is Professor of Organizational Psychology at the University of Manchester, UK.

“It is often said the world will in future be shaped by technology and the natural sciences. But technology is only a tool; it is how we as humans use it that will shape societies. That underscores the importance of the social sciences in shaping our future, as individuals, communities and societies.” (Andy Haldane, Chief Executive of the RSA, UK)

“This book demonstrates the key role of the social sciences in understanding the challenges we face as a country and as a society.” (Dame Julia Black, President of the British Academy, UK)

“The challenges and crises that the world faces today can easily seem overwhelming. How can we most effectively and equitably address matters such as global migration, plastic pollution, food insecurity, persistent financial instability and providing decent health care to all?  The essays in Why the Social Sciences Matter deliver answers to these and other equally pressing questions that are accessible, clear, insightful and compelling.” (Robert Pollin, Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst, UK and co-author of “Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal”)

“This book brilliantly highlights the importance of the social sciences in analysing and explaining societal and economic developments in the systematic way that are need for considering appropriate policy responses. The begging of a model of how the social sciences could be as effective as medicine now is, in pointing towards what is most cost-effective and what may appear to be a good idea - but is not.” (Danny Dorling, 1971 Professor of Geography at St Peter's College, University of Oxford, UK and author of “Inequality and the 1%”)

“Michie and Cooper take the typically hard to digest dinners of ideas of social scientists and turn them into rare intellectual satisfaction for policy-makers, professors with interests beyond their narrow fields, while writing a volume that undergraduate and graduate students can find accessible. This book represents the best I have seen in the history of policy on many of the big public questions on the modern mind.” (Professor Joseph Blasi, Distinguished Professor and Director at Rutgers University School Professor of Management and Labor Relations, UK and co-author of “The Citizen’s Share”)