C. Wright Mills Award

The C. Wright Mills Award is a distinction awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Social Problems to the author of the book that "best exemplifies outstanding social science research and a great understanding the individual and society in the tradition of the distinguished sociologist, C. Wright Mills."[1]

Recipients

YearName[2]Book TitleCitations
1964David MatzaDelinquency and Drift.[3]
1965Robert BoguslawThe New Utopians.
1966Jerome H. SkolnickJustice Without Trial.
1967Co-Winner, Elliot LiebowTally's Corner: A Study of Negro Street Corner Men.
Co-Winner, Travis Hirschi and Hanan C. SelvinDelinquency Research: An Appraisal of Analytical Methods.[4]
1968Gerald D. SuttlesThe Social Order of the Slum: Ethnicity and Territory in the Inner City.
1969Laud HumphreysTearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places
1970Jacqueline P. WisemanStations of the Lost: The Treatment of Skid Row Alcoholics.
1971Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. ClowardRegulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare
1972David M. GordonTheories of Poverty and Underemployment: Orthodox, Radical, and Dual Labor Market Perspectives
1973Co-Winner, James B. RulePrivate Lives and Public Surveillance: Social Control in the Computer Age
Co-Winner, Isaac D. BalbusThe Dialectics of Legal Repression: Black Rebels before the American Courts
1974Harry BravermanLabor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century
1975Mary O. FurnerAdvocacy and Objectivity: A Crisis in the Professionalization of American Social Science
1976Janice E. PerlmanThe Myth of Marginality: Urban Poverty and Politics in Rio de Janeiro
1977Rosabeth Moss KanterMen and Women of the Corporation
1978Walter KorpiThe Working Class in Welfare Capitalism: Work, Unions and Politics in Sweden
1979Theda SkocpolStates and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China
1980Michael LipskyStreet Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services
1981Judith Lewis HermanFather-Daughter Incest
1982Paul StarrThe Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry
1983Manuel CastellsThe City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements
1984Co-Winner, Michael UseemThe Inner Circle: Large Corporations and the Rise of Business Political Activity in the U.S. and U.K.
Co-Winner, Richard MadsenMorality and Power in a Chinese Village
1985Viviana ZelizerPricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children
1986Co-Winner, Diana E. H. RussellThe Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women
Co-Winner, Charles TillyThe Contentious French: Four Centuries of Popular Struggle
Co-Winner, Joyce Rothschild and J. Allen WhittThe Cooperative Workplace: Potentials and Dilemmas of Organizational Democracy and Participation
1987William J. WilsonThe Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Underclass, and Public Policy
1988Co-Winner, Iván SzelényiSocialist Entrepreneurs: Embourgeoisement in Rural Hungary
Co-Winner, John R. SuttonStubborn Children: Controlling Delinquency in the United States, 1640-1981
1989Co-Winner, Doug McAdamFreedom Summer
Co-Winner, Alan WolfeWhose Keeper? Social Science and Moral Obligation
1990Patricia Hill CollinsBlack Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment
1991Sharon ZukinLandscapes of Power: From Detroit to Disney World
1992Roger LancasterLife is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua
1993David WagnerCheckerboard Square: Culture and Resistance in a Homeless Community
1994Robert ThomasWhat Machines Can’t Do: Politics and Technology in the Industrial Enterprise
1995Co-Winner, Philippe BourgoisIn Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio
Co-Winner, Melvin L. Oliver and Thomas M. ShapiroBlack Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality
1996Steven EpsteinImpure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge
1997John L. Hagan and Bill McCarthyMean Streets: Youth Crime and Homelessness
1998Monica J. CasperThe Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery
1999Mitchell DuneierSidewalk
2000Michèle LamontThe Dignity of Working Men: Morality and the Boundaries of Race, Class, and Immigration
2001Pierrette Hondagneu-SoteloDoméstica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence
2002Co-Winner, Gordon LaferThe Job Training Charade
Co-Winner, David Naguib PellowGarbage Wars: The Struggle for Environmental Justice in Chicago
2003Sharon HaysFlat Broke With Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform
2004Mario Luis SmallVilla Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio[5]
2005Pun NgaiMade in China: Women Factory Workers in a Global Workplace[6]
2006Sudhir Alladi VenkateshOff the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor[7]
2007Daniel JaffeeBrewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival
2008Martín Sánchez-JankowskiCracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods[8]
2009Mario Luis SmallUnanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life[5]
2010Mark HunterLove in the Time of AIDS: Inequality, Gender, and Rights in South Africa
2011Shamus KhanPrivilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School
2012Cybelle FoxThree Worlds of Relief: Race, Immigration, and the American Welfare State from the Progressive Era to the New Deal
2013Nancy DiTomasoThe American Non-Dilemma: Racial Inequality Without Racism
2014Laurence RalphRenegade Dreams: Living Through Injury in Gangland Chicago
2015Carla SheddUnequal City: Race, Schools, and Perceptions of Injustice
2016Roberto G. GonzalesLives in Limbo: Undocumented and Coming of Age in America[9]
2017Claudia G. Cervantes-SoonJuárez Girls Rising: Transformative Education in Times of Dystopia
2018Ranita RayThe Making of a Teenage Service Class: Poverty and Mobility in an American City[10]
2019Adia Harvey WingfieldFlatlining: Race, Work, and Health Care in the New Economy[11]
2020Danielle T. RaudenbushHealth Care Off the Books: Poverty, Illness, and Strategies for Survival in Urban America[12]
2021Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr.Getting Something to Eat in Jackson: Race, Class, and Food in the American South[13]
2022Michael L. WalkerIndefinite: Doing Time in Jail[14]
2023Asad L. AsadEngage and Evade: How Latino Immigrant Families Manage Surveillance in Everyday Life[15]
2024Duana FullwileyTabula Raza: Mapping Race and Human Diversity in American Genome Science[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "C. Wright Mills Award". Society for the Study of Social Problems. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "The Society for the Study of Social Problems | Past Winners". www.sssp1.org. Archived from the original on 2025-02-16. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  3. ↑ "In Memoriam: David Matza". University of California. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Obituaries". The American Society of Criminology. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Carleton Connects: Mario Small '96 on neighborhoods, financial access, and racial inequality". Carleton College. 25 March 2022. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  6. ↑ "【專訪】從六四到佳士 社會學者潘毅的鬥爭 | 立場新聞•聞庫". 聞庫 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  7. ↑ Bijolia, Disha (26 June 2025). "The Rogue Sociologist: How Sudhir Venkatesh Became A Chicago Gang Leader For 24 Hours". Homegrown. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Cracks in the Pavement". University of California Press. Retrieved August 19, 2026.
  9. ↑ Gibson, Lydialyle (July–August 2020). ""Lives in Limbo"—Roberto Gonzales tallies the human and social costs". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  10. ↑ "The Making of a Teenage Service Class". The University of New Mexico Department of Sociology & Criminology. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Adia Harvey Wingfield". American Sociological Association. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Q&A with Danielle Raudenbush: C. Wright Mills Award-winning Author". University of California Press. UC Press Blog. August 5, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Davidson College Professor Joseph Ewoodzie wins the 2021 C. Wright Mills Award for his book, Getting Something to Eat in Jackson: Race, Class, and Food in the American South". Davidson College. June 30, 2022. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Fall 2023 Accolades". University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts. June 1, 2024. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Asad L. Asad wins prestigious award for his 2023 book "Engage and Evade" | Sociology". sociology.stanford.edu. 2024-08-13. Retrieved 2025-06-01.
  16. ↑ "Duana Fullwiley". Poets & Writers. Retrieved August 9, 2026.