Constructing a Social Science for Postwar America

In this sequel to his double biography of John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener, Steve Heims focuses on the Macy Foundation conferences, which were designed to forge connections between wartime science and post-war social science, and explores the dialogues that emerged.

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In this sequel to his double biography of John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener, Steve Heims recounts another story in 20th-century intellectual history - a series of encounters that captured a moment of transformation in the human sciences. Focusing on the Macy Foundation conferences, which were designed to forge connections between wartime science and post-war social science, Heims's richly detailed account explores the dialogues that emerged among a remarkable group that included Wiener, von Neumann, Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, Warren McCulloch, Kurt Lewin, Molly Harrower, and Lawrence Kubie. Heims shows how those dialogues shaped ideas in psychology, sociology, anthropology and psychiatry.