Applying Social Sciences Research for Public Benefit Using Knowledge Mobilization and Social Media

Abstract

1. Introduction The social sciences and humanities (SSH) matter. They matter because they help us understand and address wicked problems. Wicked problems are persistent problems about which there is little agreement on solutions. Not all the stakeholders are known, end points are equivocal and when interventions are introduced the problems themselves might change. We can address wicked problems but we have a tough time eradicating them. Wicked problems “occur in a social context; the greater the disagreement among stakeholders, the more wicked the problem. In fact, it’s the social complexity of wicked problems as much as their technical difficulties that make them tough to manage” (Camillus 2008, 100). Wicked problems are therefore social problems. Wicked problems are problems of the social sciences. All of the "wicked" problems such as poverty, housing, immigration, climate change, security, at risk kids, Aboriginal issues, social determinants of health - to name a few - embrace issues related to the social sciences. New solutions that help address these wicked (i.e. social) problems are referred to as social innovations. Definitions of social innovation abound (Cahill 2010), but one of the most elegant is from Louise Pulford formerly of the Young Foundation in the United Kingdom who describes social innovations as “devising new and better ways to tackle social problems” (Policy Horizons Canada 2011). Social innovations can be developed by for-profit or not-for-profit organizations, by individuals (called social innovators, or social entrepreneurs) or by consortia of public, private and not- for-profit organizations. As Geoff Mulgan of the Young Foundation has written, “social change depends…on alliances between what could be called the ‘bees’ and the ‘trees’. The bees are the small organizations, individuals and groups who have the new ideas, and are mobile, quick and able to cross-pollinate. The trees are the big organizations, governments, companies or big NGO s, which are poor at creativity but generally good at implementation, and which have the resilience, roots and scale to make things happen” (Mulgan 2008, 22).