Abstract

This chapter provides a broad overview of the institutional and demographic development of seven social science and humanities disciplines in the UK since the end of WWII. The first part provides a chronological sketch of key policy developments in British higher education over the last 70 or so years and their effects upon the SSH disciplines of interest. It also offers a brief account of the research funding landscape in the UK. The second part goes on to suggest certain developmental trends that have taken place across the seven disciplines under study. In particular, it stresses massification, feminization, Americanization, specialization/differentiation, and innovation through cross-fertilization.