From social indicators to science and technology indicators: What can we learn?

The idea that Sis could monitor the consequences of the space programme was rapidly extended to the grander idea that the consequences and direction of overall social development could also be mapped out and assessed in the same way as could specific programmes. The social indicator (SI) movement was launched by the space programme, by the desire to assess the social consequences of a costly technological enterprise whose economic benefits were being brought into question. A considerable quantity of SI work became concentrated on social reporting, on documenting changes in welfare-relevant output indicators to supplement data on resource inputs and activities. The growing literature has sought to test alternative theories of the relations between “dependency” or location in the world economy on the one hand, and economic and social outcomes on the other. The SI movement no longer portrays itself as the great hope for revolutionising social science and policymaking.