Book excerpt: Social scientists have played many roles in Canadian politics since the Second World War. Stephen Brooks and Alain Gagnon examine the forms and extent of social scientists' involvement in the political process, their relationship to the state, and the complexities of their class position. The unique development of the social sciences in Quebec and their relationship to Quebec nationalism are examined and distinctions between development in this community and in the predominantly anglophone community of the rest of Canada are contrasted.