Great Expectations

Great Expectations reviews the status of the social sciences in Great Britain at the beginning of the twenty-first century. While making clear that work opportunities for social scientists are substantial and that levels of intellectual performance equal that of graduates in physics, it provides a hard hitting, empirically grounded examination of a near crisis situation. The report goes far beyond what one expects in commissioned reports, arguing that the academic treadmill, driven by excessive accountability, reduces the originality and quality of much academic research. The implications for the United States are transparent.