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Economic, political and social problems are accumulating in the Arab World, yet despite some progress in the 1980s, the study of its socioeconomic and political milieu is still elementary. This study focuses on the impediments to the development of an effective and relevant social science in the Arab world. It included open ended interviews with 14 Arab social scientists, and covers three aspects. First, the international division of labor as it relates to research and theory building in the social sciences. Next, the Arab cultural, social and political environment as an impediment as an impediment to critical thinking and research. Third, attitudes resulting from the socio-economic, political and cultural environment. This includes lack of data and information, lack of relevance, the isolation of research from policy, and the practice of self-censorship. The study concludes that rising social problems, in addition to a set of new social forces in the Arab world, will affect the status of social sciences in the near future. However, the key to the development of an effective and independent scholarship is the active participation of scholars.