Activist Turned Social Scientist

Contemporary society is riddled with many issues that need to be addressed in order for people and communities to move forward. But how should we address these issues? And with so many, how should we sort through them?

Activist Turned Social Scientist is a thoroughly researched and highly personal collection of papers on significant social issues about which activist, social scientist, and Dartmouth emeritus professor Robert Sokol has been concerned since youth. Tackling troublesome topics such as suicide, depression, teen pregnancy, child abuse, and education, it delves into downfalls that have affected life in New England towns and cities over the past several decades, though the issues themselves are representative of what our nation faces as a whole.

The empirical data compiled in this compelling collection comes from unpublished research conducted in New England over the past fifty-plus years, which Sokol uniquely combines with his childhood experiences and insights as an activist and scholar to achieve a fresh perspective on many pressing problems. The data itself is somewhat grim at times, yet it is presented as both helpful and hopeful, with the intention of fueling forward-thinking thought, policy, and action.