Setting Priorities for Research: New Politics for the Social Sciences.

This paper examines the emergence of sociopolitics in the United States during the 1980s. The Reagan Administration's drastic budget cuts for social research prompted social scientists to engage in interest-group politics. The newest development in sociopolitics is setting priorities for research. This paper examines the intellectual and political risks of setting priorities. I conclude that sociologists must begin to discuss the objectives and strategies of funding social research, and seek ways of reducing our dependency upon federal funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]