Perspectives and Discourses on Social Sciences and Humanities in Higher Education: Findings from a science mapping and from a discourse analysis perspective

Writing about the relevance, position and contribution of research and teaching in the humanities and, to a growing degree, the social sciences also, seems to reach back at least 200 years, if not into the Middle Ages (e.g., Gengnagel & Hamann, 2014). However, also in younger times, academic publications have not shied away to problematize this topic, and disciplines and faculties on the social sciences and humanities (SSH) spectrum are consistently being argued to face an uncertain future and are experiencing increasing pressure to justify their relevance and contribution towards universities and society (e.g., Barnett & Nixon, 2012; Biesta, 2015; Nussbaum, 2016).
The wealth of publications about SSH seems to be growing, and the corpus of writings can only be described as diverse. Authors have both underpinned and challenged notions of whether SSH is in crisis in terms of students and graduates (e.g., Roberts, 2021); others have added nuance through differentiating sites and arenas of the debate (e.g., Meranze, 2015). Also, notable efforts have been made to propose and implement evaluation and performance measurement systems that cater to the specific attributes of SSH knowledge production and dissemination (e.g., Johansson et al., 2020). However, what has not been noted in detail so far is that these writings, produced by the scholarly community, themselves can be seen as interpretations of the situation of SSH, thus contributing to and shaping the discourse around SSH’s future. Moreover, they must be understood as a reaction to political decisions, economic rationalities, and societal expectations, thus shifting and evolving over time.
It must be acknowledged that discourses on SSH have unfolded in different parts of the world over the last fifty years. Notably, a strong North American tradition can be traced, with publications specifically diving into the role and relevance of the US college systems and the integration of liberal arts (e.g., Franke, 2009; Harpham, 2005). The heavy debates in some of the American publications around declining student numbers in SSH programs can furthermore be interpreted as an effect of a heavily monetized private university sector (e.g., Meranze, 2015). In contrast, the European perspective seems to be influenced more by the interplay between universities and the welfare state as their primary source of economic revenue, and the European Union as the supranational funding source to the higher education sector. Concomitantly, other topics have come to the fore, such as the measurement of impact and relevance of SSH for society (e.g., Sivertsen, 2016) or the contribution SSH can make to the progress of innovation in Europe (e.g., Felt, 2014). For analytical clarity, we are focusing our analyses on academic writings originating in and/or elaborating about SSH in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
Against this backdrop, the current paper reports on two studies aimed providing insights into the state, development, and topicality of the academic discourse on the role, relevance and organization of social sciences and humanities over the last 50 years, as expressed in academic writings.