If Sociologists Had as Much Influence as Economists
Sociologists have had a very large impact on policy in the last century. For example, the hundreds of billions spent on public housing was based on ideas that came out of sociology -- <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cdn0.vox-cdn.com&#x2F;thumbor&#x2F;dvPJvrleZI_wckWhjsRNPPRl4xU=&#x2F;1000x0&#x2F;filters:no_upscale()&#x2F;cdn0.vox-cdn.com&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;chorus_asset&#x2F;file&#x2F;4432835&#x2F;LOC02hr.0.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cdn0.vox-cdn.com&#x2F;thumbor&#x2F;dvPJvrleZI_wckWhjsRNPPRl4xU...</a> It just didn&#x27;t work.<p><i>And a large body of sociological research touches on the idea of stigmatization, including of the poor and of racial minorities.</i><p>Many school reforms ideas (desegregation, elimination of corporal punishment, reducing emphasis on rote learning, etc) were based on this theory. The Brown versus Board of Education decision cited sociological research along these lines, for example. But the theories were wrong, so the solutions did not work. Professor Raymond Wolters has two exhaustive (if depressing) histories of these reforms and their failures. See <i>The Long Crusade: Profiles in Education Reform, 1967-2014</i> and <i>The Burden of Brown: Thirty Years of School Desegregation</i><p><i>It’s one thing, for example, to outlaw housing discrimination based on race. But if real estate agents and would-be home sellers subtly shun minority buyers, the effect can be the same. Professor Gans of Columbia has argued for decades that the stigmatization of poor Americans fuels entrenched, persistent poverty.</i><p>Sociologists haven&#x27;t been ignored -- this was the theory behind Section 8 Vouchers which is a very large program. But again, the theory was wrong and the solutions did not work. See <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theatlantic.com&#x2F;magazine&#x2F;archive&#x2F;2008&#x2F;07&#x2F;american-murder-mystery&#x2F;306872&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theatlantic.com&#x2F;magazine&#x2F;archive&#x2F;2008&#x2F;07&#x2F;america...</a> and <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;devinhelton.com&#x2F;historical-amnesia.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;devinhelton.com&#x2F;historical-amnesia.html</a>