Предизвикателството на интердисциплинарността: какво „приложните социални науки“ могат да научат от „фундаменталните социални науки

In the field of social sciences, the acknowledgement of a «crisis of disciplines» is a widely held view at the moment. The authors of this paper propose a different look on this topic. The history of social sciences leads us to relativize the seriousness of this «crisis». To some extent, the current challenge of interdisciplinarity, especially to the «applied social sciences», not only stems from the conjunction of scientific disciplines, but also from the clash of theory and practice. The argument is examined in the context of a course entitled Foundations of the interdisciplinary approach (offered by the Université du Québec en Outaouais in the curriculum of a new Ph. D. program focused on applied social sciences). Three applied disciplines are surveyed: Development Studies (especially territorial development), Industrial Relations and Social Work. It goes without saying that these three disciplines are multidisciplinary. Our main conclusion is that the applied social sciences researchers, as social actors, become more or less automatically integrated into knowledge – or even policy – networks (communities or coalitions). Usually, inside these networks, the question of disciplinary identity does not prove to be a major stake. So the role assumed by applied social sciences researchers is often that of a knowledge broker. The major challenge they face in this context is not necessarily the interdisciplinary one. It is a challenge in which the question of individual and collective reflexivity is paramount. This challenge is as old as the social sciences themselves. That is why the «applied social sciences» still have something to learn from the «basic social sciences».