ABSTRACT

This paper scrutinises the Ford Foundation’s Fund for Adult Education from the perspective of Cold War social science. Its massive Experimental Discussion Project was an attempt at scientifically grounded social engineering in American communities in the field of liberal humanistic education. This civilisation-saving mission to foster critical democratic citizenship and world-understanding ran into aparadox of scientific social engineering and organic community growth, expertise, and planning versus lay leadership. Discussion groups opened up space for discussing politics during the McCarthy era, while its scientific evaluation was characteristic of the 1950s Culture Wars in its value neutrality and race-blindness.

摘要

本文从冷战社会科学的角度审视了福特基金会的成人教育基金。它的大规模实验讨论项目是对通识教育课程中美国社区科学基础上的社会工程学的尝试。旨在培养关键的民主公民身份和世界理解的节约文明的使命陷入了科学社会工程学与有机社区发展，专业知识以及计划与外行领导力的悖论。讨论小组为麦卡锡时代的政治讨论开辟了空间，而对它的科学评估在其价值中立和种族盲目方面是1950年代文化大战的特征。