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The awarding of the 1992 Nobel Prize for Economics to Gary Becker draws attention to Becker's outstanding work in economics. At the same time, it draws attention to a new phenomenon, for which Becker himself is more responsible than anyone else: the use of basic principles of economics to address problems in sociology. Much of the work for which Becker is best known treats problems that are quite outside the field of economics proper and fully within the field of sociology. What is striking about this is that Becker remains committed to the explanatory logic of neo-classical economics; he applies that logic uncompromisingly, using the same tools in examining marriage markets as in examining financial markets. In this paper, some of Becker's work on sociological problems are discussed and assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]