ABSTRACT
In 1988, after writing eight books of sociology, I published a novel. 1 Some of my friends were envious, confessing to an unfinished literary project, tucked away in a drawer and never quite abandoned. But many of my sociological colleagues were puzzled: Why had I given two years of my career to fiction, when I could have been doing serious work? Social research may not be such fun, but it is grounded in reality and should have something important to say about the world. It takes discipline. Anyone can try his or her hand at a novel. It’s all made up.
