Education and Technological Revolutions: The Role of the Social Sciences and the Humanities in the Knowledge Based Economy.

The role of the social sciences and the humanities in a knowledge-based economy was examined in a comparative study of the income and employment outcomes of secondary-, postsecondary-, and graduate-level study programs in technical fields, the social sciences, and the humanities in 1991-1996. Special attention was paid to the following areas: the economic success of graduates in 1996; rates of return on investment in education in selected fields; employment changes in 1991-96; a case study of the British Columbian labor market; techism and economic development; and the productivity approach and economic development. The study established that computers and information have revolutionized business organization and increased the demand for social science and humanities graduates. Technological advances and the resultant falling cost of information has made the hierarchical organization inefficient and increased the need for workers with the following types of skills and abilities that are cultivated in social sciences and humanities programs: (1) to understand the information generated by computer systems, analyze it, relate it to the world, and act on it; (2) to make critical and independent judgments; and (3) to develop the interpersonal and communication skills needed to deal with clients and work together in self-directing teams. (MN)