Becoming a Footnote

Sanford F. Schram is Visiting Professor of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College. His many books include (with coeditors Bent Flyvbjerg and Todd Landman) Real Social Science: Applied Phronesis.

"For those who know of the author's work, this book provides a revealing glimpse into the man behind the reputation. But, even for those unfamiliar with it, Becoming a Footnote is a highly readable and engaging account of a life's work that would be of interest to anyone pursuing an academic position, including those who wonder how to remain real and relevant from inside academia." — Vicki Lens, Columbia University "This book drew me in and works as a narrative on two levels. First, it is disarmingly and convincingly self-deprecating about the struggle to become a critical thinker, to write well, and to devise research programs that would shed light on major questions. Second, it is a valuable history of the central debates around social welfare policy, neoliberalism, and racial stigma." — James Scott, author of The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia

• PrefaceIntroduction1. How I Had Four Majors in College2. Going Postal, Getting Drafted: How I Ended Up in Graduate School3. How I Learned To Read4. I Went Down to the Crossroads: Activism and Scholarship5. Standing on Shoulders: Scholarship as Networking6. Theory and Practice: Research and the Court7. Is Anybody Listening? Testifying before Congress8. Calling Out Racial Bias: Images, Words, and Numbers9. The Deep Semiotic Structure of Deservingness: Enduring Identities in Dependency Discourse10. Three Heads Are Better than One: Collaboration, Mixed Methods, and Disciplining the Poor11. Moving On: Turning To Europe12. Making It Matter: Real Social Scene in the Neoliberal AcademyConclusion: A Postscript on WritingAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex