JENNIFER RUBIN VOICES
understandably to focus on the economic costs and benefits. But in Rubin’s view, people’s concerns are also “cultural and psychological, and contain important regional variations.” This, she thinks, is an illustration of the need for interdisciplinary social science. “We need to understand whether people will have £5 less or £10 more in their pockets, but we also need to understand how important this is to them, and how it relates to other concerns and challenges they face.” Defining influences Jennifer Rubin’s choice of some of the social scientists who have inspired her and shaped her thinking reflect this broad view of the field. From her undergraduate years reading European Politics at Loughborough University, she cites Marie Jahoda as an influence. Jahoda was a psychologist who carried out research in an economically- stricken mining community in her native Austria. She developed key insights into the importance of work, not so much as a source of money but as the wellspring of people’s sense of self-worth and of their ability to structure their lives. This helped illustrate the way social structures and societal and economic change impact on people’s identity and everyday experience.
An influence on her thinking as a graduate student in Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge was Mary Ainsworth, the US psychologist who developed a novel way to operationalise and measure infant behaviour in studying attachment theory, which she sees as “a key link between family social relations and individual psychology and behaviour.” Her work has also been influenced by that of Gordon Allport, who developed contact theory. His work, she thinks, has been helpful in understanding intergroup relations and prejudice, and “has spawned further research which can inform thinking about some of the current challenges for diverse communities.” She has also long been impressed by the methodological and conceptual innovation embodied by Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work, based on his research in Italy on the key ingredients of the differential success met in establishing new structures of regional governance across the country. This diverse outlook explains Rubin’s answer
to the inviting but tricky question of the research issue she would pursue if she had indefinite resources to throw at the task. She points first to inequality, including its geographical aspects. “The gains from globalisation have created winners and losers across and within countries, so that many are disaffected”, she says. Linked to this is the issue of trust in political systems. What are some innovations, mechanisms and behaviours that might help? Tackling the pivotal question of whether and how we might increase productivity is also high on her list, with its potential to make a difference to many societal challenges, as well as improving overall economic performance. Then
there are the many important social, legal and ethical challenges around AI… This massive agenda matches Rubin’s enthusiasm for ambitious social science which is of value to a wide range of stakeholders. She says: “Addressing these challenges involves geography, sociology, economics, political science, anthropology and psychology. The complex set of issues faced by different communities and countries spans all disciplines of the social sciences as well as health, scientific innovation and more.” n
Professor Jennifer Rubin is Professor of Public Policy at King’s College London and former Director of the Policy Institute at King’s. Throughout her career, her aim has been to bring excellent research to bear on policy and practice challenges. Jennifer’s principal research areas include migration, integration and intolerance; communities, crime and justice policy;
and the intersections between public health and related areas such as alcohol and drugs policy.
Before joining King’s Professor Rubin built and led the justice and home affairs research programme at RAND Europe for ten years. She has served on the not-for-profit policy research institution’s executive team most recently as Executive Vice President, helping to lead its quadrupling in size in Europe.
In addition to research, Professor Rubin is a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Data, Evidence and Science Board and is the UK representative on NATO’s task force on ethnic intolerance in the military. She has served on the Advisory Board for a multimillion- pound AHRC doctoral training programme at the University of Cambridge and has been social scientific advisor to numerous projects including Nuffield Foundation research on fair trials for foreign nationals. She advises and briefs her work to the Executive offices of the UK and several other European governments, the US, New Zealand and the European Commission.
Jennifer obtained her PhD at the University of Cambridge in social and political sciences at King’s College, following a first class degree in European Politics at Loughborough University. n
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