Social Science Research Council

Benazir Bhutto was my classmate at Oxford in the 1970s. That is not the opening sentence of a feel-good encomium to cosmopolitanism. Nor is it the start of a personal reminiscence or statement of regret, though I am sad. It is a small note of personal connection to the growing political tragedy in Pakistan. What follows is a reflection on that tragedy.

Editor’s Note: This essay originally appeared as a posting on the SSRC blog The Immanent Frame

Open scientific communication is essential for advancing democratic goals. Then why is the United States closing its borders to important social scientists, such as Tariq Ramadan of Switzerland and Adam Habib of South Africa?

Robert K. Merton, one of the towering figures on whose shoulders contemporary sociology rests, died Sunday, February 23, 2003. He was 92. Merton was born July 4, 1910, and his extraordinary life story evokes both a very American trajectory appropriate to the holiday birthday and the universalism of science.

Editor’s Note: This essay tribute originally appeared in the March 2003 Footnotes, a publication of the the American Sociological Association.

Pierre Bourdieu was the most distinguished European sociologist since Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, and made major contributions to a range of other fields. No one would describe Bourdieu’s writings as easily accessible, yet few social scientists in our era have had broader influence…

Editor’s Note: This essay tribute originally appeared in Items & Issues 2.3-4 (Winter 2001).