Faire science. Le « durcissement » des sciences sociales par la National Science Foundation (États-Unis, 1945-1957)

Created in 1950 to promote “all the sciences”, the National Science Foundation (NFS) did not explicitly include social sciences until 1957. We study this process of inclusion from the first debates about the creation of such a foundation in 1945 and highlight two phenomena. On the one hand, social sciences had to cope with a double constraint: of object of studies regarding political limitations; of methods of inquiry regarding natural scientists’ conceptions of scientificity. On the other hand, strategies of inclusion varied among disciplines, as varied the requirements to cope with NSF’ “standards”. More generally, this study highlights the double bind generated by the “quest for scientific legitimacy”, that actually hinders the possibilities of scientific progress for the social sciences.