The editor of this volume asserts that sociology's ostrich-like stance threatens to leave the discipline in a position of irrelevance to the world at large and compromises the support of policymakers, funders, media and the public.

Wilson's vision is of a sociology attuned to the public agenda, influencing public policy through both short and long-range analysis from a sociological perspective. Using a variety of policy issues, perspectives, methods and cases, the distinguished contibutors to this volume both demonstrate and emphasize Wilson's ideas.

INTRODUCTION

SOCIOLOGY, SOCIAL SCIENCE, AND THE PUBLIC POLICY AGENDA

Can Sociology Play a Greater Role in Shaping the National Agenda? - William Julius Wilson

The Interaction of the Sociological Agenda and Public Policy - Carol H Weiss

How Do Issues Get on Public Policy Agendas? - John W Kingdon

The Powers and the Intellectuals - Steven Brint

Benchmark Texts and Changing Conditions

PART ONE: THE POLITICS OF CITIZENSHIP

Migrants Into Citizens? Traditions of Nationhood and Politics of Citizenship in France and Germany - Rogers Brubaker

Citizenship and Welfare - J Donald Moon

Social Democratic and Liberal Perspectives

`Social Citizenship', Work and Social Solidarity - Roger Lawson

Historical Comparisons Between Britain and Sweden

PART TWO: ORGANIZATIONS, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, AND PUBLIC POLICY

Organizations as (Secondary) Citizens - Philippe C Schmitter

Networks as Political Glue - David Knoke

Explaining Public Policy-Making

Financial Reorganization of American Corporations in the 1980s - Neil Fligstein and Linda Markowitz

The Conservative Revolution That Wasn't - Anne Wortham

New Right Populism and the Preservation of New Deal Liberalism

PART THREE: THE PUBLIC AGENDA: ADDRESSING HIGH PRIORITY SOCIAL PROBLEMS

How Families Manage Risk and Opportunity in Dangerous Neighborhoods - Frank F Furstenberg Jr

The Community Context of Violent Crime - Robert J Sampson

The Politics of Homelessness - Peter H Rossi

Inner-City Education - James P Comer

A Theoretical and Intervention Model

Mothers, Children, and Low-Wage Work - Roberta M Spalter-Roth, Heidi I Hartmann and Linda M Andrews

The Ability to Earn a Family Wage

PART FOUR: ISSUES FOR THE PUBLIC AGENDA

The French Child Welfare System - Barbara R Bergmann

An Excellent System We Could Adapt and Afford

Employment as a Human Right - Philip Harvey