Problem-Solving Sociology

Monica Prasad Professor of Sociology and Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. She has written three award-winning books: Starving the Beast: Ronald Reagan and the Tax Cut Revolution, The Land of Too Much: American Abundance and the Paradox of Poverty, and The Politics of Free Markets: The Rise of Neoliberal Economic Policies in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States. Her scholarship has received the Fulbright award, the National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and several other grants and awards. For more on problem-solving sociology see: problemsolvingsociology.com

• 1. The Thought Machine2. But is it Objective?3. Victims and Villains4. A Magic Trick: Research Design for Problem-Solving5. The View from Mars6. Decision Points and Exercises (1): Finding Your Project7. Decision Points and Exercises (2): Troubling Your Assumptions8. Decision Points and Exercises (3): Clarifying and Defending Your Argument9. The Place of Problem Solving in American Sociology 10. An Orrery of Objections11. When to Stop Problem Solving12. Building Your Own BoatAcknowledgmentsEndnotesIndex

Prasad has combined two books in one. The first is a witty and subversive guidebook for students that maps the pathway they should follow to create excellent and impactful social science. The second is a profound meditation on the sociology of knowledge that deserves a wide audience. She has updated Mills' Sociological Imagination for the 21st century." -Fred Block, Research Professor, University of California-Davis