Academics can find their place in several different steps of this stairway, but since their job concerns researching and research brings evidence, that’s their primary role. In fact, social policies need to be guided by the identification of social problems, which need to be based on evidence. If the problem you suggest for public attention is not supported by enough evidence (research results) or if you cannot make its importance crystal clear for everyone around you, it will just be ignored or forgotten.
I have been trained as a political thailand rcs data scientist, and I am interested in the behaviour of voters. People do not live in bubbles, and plenty of empirical evidence suggests that their voting choices are a combination of personal attitudes and external inputs. My focus is on the external inputs, the media influence of voting. Growing up in Berlusconi’s Italy was crucial for me to realise how much the media can be powerful in shaping people’s preferences.
These effects of media on the political and social life of citizens are a social problem, and this phenomenon needs to be understood and monitored by legislators.
Providing evidence is what I’m doing right now with my research.