Invited online lecture, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, June 20, 2023

1. NAVIGATING ACADEMIA AND ACTIVISM
Leonhard Dobusch
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
June 20, 2023, online

2. / Do I have time for this?
/ Should I focus on impact activities that count?
/ Are my findings too incremental?
/ My findings are not actionable - so how are they useful?
Friesike, S., Dobusch, L., & Heimstädt, M. (2022). Striving for
societal impact as an early-career researcher: Reflections on
five common concerns. In Organizing for societal grand
challenges. Emerald Publishing Limited.
/ What if I say something wrong?
FIVE COMMON CONCERNS

3. / Do I have time for this?
/ Should I focus on impact activities that count?
/ Are my findings too incremental?
/ My findings are not actionable - so how are they useful?
Friesike, S., Dobusch, L., & Heimstädt, M. (2022). Striving for
societal impact as an early-career researcher: Reflections on
five common concerns. In Organizing for societal grand
challenges. Emerald Publishing Limited.
/ What if I say something wrong?
FIVE COMMON CONCERNS
YES
NO
NO
INSTRUMENTAL
CONCEPTUAL
LEGITIMATIVE
¯_(ツ)_/¯

6. Wolfgang Blau
https://worldnewsday.org/covering-climate-
change-requires-newsroom-change/

7. "Activist scientists are an Abomination"

8. Some call it 'Knowledge Transfer’ or 'Outreach',
some call it 'Political Activism’.

9. Die "Objektivität" sozialwissenschaftlicher und
sozialpolitischer Erkenntnis. 1
)
Von
MAX WEBER.
Die erste Frage, mit der bei uns eine sozialwissenschaftliche
und zumal eine sozialpolitische Zeitschrift bei ihrem Erscheinen
oder bei ihrem Übergang in eine neue Redaktion begrüßt zu werden
veröffentlicht 1904

10. / CHOICE OF TOPIC & RESEARCH QUESTION
/ CHOICE OF THEORY
/ CHOICE OF METHOD & CATEGORIZATION
/ INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

11. “Ideology, like halitosis, is […] what the other person
has.
Terry Eagleton

12. / Activism charge is an argumentum ad hominem
/ Activists, activists everywhere
>> Not activism, but violating quality standards of scholarly or
journalistic works is the problem

13. AKTIVISM AS A FEATURE?

14. QUARTERLY JOURNAL
ECONOMICS
TITHI-'IS ECOKO;IICS XOT AX ET'OLUTIONARY
SCIENCE ?
11. G. DE LAPOCGE
recently said, '. Anthropology is
Thorstein Veblen

15. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ISSUES
Vol. XLIII No. 4 December 2009
DOI 10.2753/JEI0021-3624430403
“Why is Economics not an Evolutionary Science?”
New Answers to Veblen’s Old Question
Leonhard Dobusch and Jakob Kapeller
Abstract: Addressing the question why Economics as a discipline is not subject to

16. Heterodox
Dissenters
Neoclassical
Orthodoxy
Austrians
Evolutionary
Economists
Institutionalists
Post-
Keynesians
Mainstream
Colander‘s
edge
Mainstream
Dissenters
Ecological
Economists
Feminist
Economists Behavioral
Economists
Post-
Marxists
Paradigmatic
Constellation in
Economics

17. Student activism challenges
path dependent paradigms

18. SO WHAT?

19. / MORE ACTIVISM
/ Sources, data, results
/ Political stance, position
/ MORE OPENNESS
/ MORE CONSTRUCTIVE DEBATE

20. CONTACT
E-Mail:
Leonhard.Dobusch@uibk.ac.at
Mastodon/Twitter:
@leonido / @leonidobusch
Homepages:
bit.ly/LD_UIBK // www.dobusch.net
Research blogs:
governancexborders.com // osconjunction.net