Abstract
IN his address on “Science and Social Service” given to members of the National Institute of Industrial Psychology at the annual general meeting, Sir Richard Gregory stressed the urgent need of the application of scientific method to social and international problems. Although scientific discoveries may be prostituted in the cause of war, it must be acknowledged that the advance of science has on the whole led to an enormous alleviation of human suffering and an increase in the capacity and facilities for happiness. As science is responsible for the industrial developments and economic changes which have caused violent disturbances in our social structure and provided also the means by which civilization may commit suicide, it has a duty to guide the human race in the wise use of the powers it has created. The personal and group loyalties of men, their fears, ideals, passions and ambitions all lend themselves to scientific study with the view of providing a basis for effective social action. It is fashionable at the present time to blame the machine for the mechanization of life. To do this is to make the fundamental mistake of regarding the machine as the master and not the servant of society, and to forget that the most regrettable results of industrialization are not for the most part the direct fault of technological progress, but of lack of consideration for human needs. One of the prime needs of the present time is the development of research in the social and biological sciences on a scale commensurate with that of the physical sciences. The principal aim of any such studies should be to increase the comfort and promote the intelligence of the worker in order to combat the evils due to conditions arising out of mechanization in industry. Most of the work of the National Institute of Industrial Psychology is designed to this end, and is thus assisting in the adjustment of society to the changes caused by technical development.
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Science and Social Service. Nature 140, 1088 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/1401088b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1401088b0