Editor's introduction

Social Research, Summer, 2004 by Arien Mack

BOB HEILBRONER JOINED THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF SOCIAL RESEARCH in 1960. When I became editor in 1970 he generously became both my guide and my cheerleader. It is difficult to imagine anyone better suited for those roles. The journal mattered to him, and what mattered most about it, I think, was what it was not, rather than what it was. Social Research was not, despite its misleading title, a standard sociology or social science journal, replete with reports of endless number-crunching studies and surveys. In perhaps much the same way, economics for Bob was not a discipline insulated from the society and culture in which it was embedded.

It was because we tried to make Social Research a journal of ideas that Bob cared about it, and the fact that he published in it so often was the best evidence of his caring, since he could have published what he wrote for us in many other places. (A list of his articles in Social Research appears below.) He never missed board meetings and was always ready to think about what the next thematic issue should be and who might be invited to write for it. His range of references was dazzling. The absence of his voice in the recent past has left a void that has been difficult to fill.

It seems entirely appropriate that an issue of Social Research be devoted to Bob's work and to commemorating his book, The Worldly Philosophers, which probably was read by almost every college student in the country for many years.

I would like to thank my colleague, Will Millberg, who worked very closely with Bob during his last years at the New School, for suggesting this issue and organizing it. My thanks go as well to all of the authors who have written for this issue.