Marginalized in the Middle

In an election year when every candidate ran as a centrist, Alan Wolfe nevertheless manages to feel alone in the vital center. This is because the middle he stakes out is not a policy to please all but a realist perspective for analysis of social problems that goes beyond rhetorical posturing. Unconcerned with opinions and positions, Wolfe wants to deal in evidence and the hard ground of facts. He brings this distaste for polemic to some of the most pressing areas of social debate, including welfare, politics and culture, race relations, and immigration. His strong perspective produces genuinely fresh takes on these tired topics. Marginalized in the Middle also proves interesting as a historical view of social science. Invigorated with the spirit of American pragmatism and infused with faith in the powers of social analysis, Wolfe writes in a style that may not persist in this postmodern age when analysis is more often a means of self-reflection than a tool employed by social critics.