المعضلة الاجتماعية للعلوم : دراسة ظاهراتية للتحول المعرفي من العلوم الطبيعية إلى الاجتماعية
The research aims to understand the phenomenon of knowledge transformation, which means studying a social specialty after completing a university degree in a natural specialty, and to deconstruct the motives of the transformation, its temporal contexts, and its challenges. The research used a qualitative, phenomenological method by interviewing 35 people from several Arab countries who went through this experience. A thematic analysis was conducted by MAXQDA. The main results are: Social constraints like family, social relations, and the market, played a fundamental role in choosing the first natural specialization after high school, while subjective factors constituted the primary motivation in the knowledge shift towards the social sciences. Most of the transition difficulties were of a social nature, but the passion for the second major played an important role in facilitating the transition. The research proposes a new theoretical approach to understanding the motivations of this phenomena, based on the concept of the “social dilemma” as a “hidden structure” that constitutes a source of perceptions and practices associated with choosing a specialization (natural or social). The research recommends paying attention to the status of the social sciences and enhancing it socially and academically. (Published abstract)