Purpose of this platform is twofold: one, to bring the considerable amount of individual research on social science's role in society to the fore; and two, to discuss new avenues for how to understand, and conceptualize, the complex relationship between social sciences and their environments, be it institutions (such as universities or state bureaucracies), grand scientific epistemologies, social movements or political expectations. The historical study of social sciences provides a good (albeit not the only) starting point for this reflection.

As such, the platform establishes a regular meeting ground for researchers, bringing together historians of science as well as social scientists.