Project Camelot and the 1960s Epistemological Revolution

Abstract

Project Camelot, a military-sponsored, social science study of revolution, was cancelled in 1965 amidst international and national discussion about the study's political implications. Subsequently, Camelot became the focus of a wide-ranging controversy about the connections between Cold War politics, military patronage, and American social science. This paper argues that following Camelot's demise, efforts to rethink the politics-patronage-social science nexus became an important part of what historian Peter Novick has called `the epistemological revolution that began in the 1960s'. Novick claims that `strictly academic' considerations provided the categories of analysis that challenged the scholarly mainstream's commitment to objectivity and related ideals, like value-neutrality and professional autonomy. In contrast, my analysis - which discusses post-WWII military patronage for the social sciences, Camelot's origins and cancellation, the ensuing controversy, and some long-term implications of this controversy - underscores the centrality of political developments and political concerns in that epistemological revolution.

La mercantilización de la educación en Costa Rica: las universidades públicas en la mira de los organismos internacionales

“…Un informe del BM (Banco Mundial, 1996) muestra el caso chileno como exitoso en el sistema de cobros de derecho de matrícula para diversificar los ingresos económicos como doctrina de autofinanciamiento. Además, hay que mencionar también el papel de la academia chilena en el Proyecto Camelot; una estrategia académica-militar estadounidense en la década de los sesenta para estudiar las protestas sociales antiimperialistas y las formas de erradicarlas (Solovey, 2001).…”

Finding Patrons for Peace Psychology: The Foundations of the Conflict Resolution Movement at the University of Michigan, 1951–1971

“…In 1964, the members of the CRCR were invited by the Special Operations Research Office (SORO) to participate in Project Camelot, the infamous military‐sponsored study on revolutions in developing countries . Historians have emphasized the importance of project Camelot in increasing the awareness of scholars regarding the role of military patronage and Cold War politics in shaping social science (Solovey, ). And indeed, even if some members of the CRCR including Hefner, Sheldon Levy, and William Gamson initially agreed to be consultants for the project, the invitation triggered strong adverse reactions in Michigan.…”

“…As historian Mark Solovey reports, “SORO was a military‐supported, quasi‐independent research institute, located on the campus of the American University in Washington, DC, that served as the main centre for Army‐contract research in the behavioural sciences” (Solovey, , p. 180). It was created in 1956 at the height of the Cold War.…”

“Education for Democracy”:SPSSIand the Study of Morale in World War II

“…Psychologists were members of national committees, did testing for induction centers, or worked for the Civil Aeronautics Program (Marquis, 1944). This vast participation in state affairs permanently altered the face of psychology, demonstrating the wide-ranging opportunities presented by such collaboration while also foreshadowing many of the difficulties that would arise from the marriage of science and state in the postwar period (Solovey, 2001).…”