James Q. Wilson, in his words and mine
We lost a fine and gracious man with the passing of James Q. Wilson, a towering intellect whose ideas touched so many of us, but also a wonderfully nuanced human being of truly unexpected interests – like sneaking off from meetings to go see action movies, (particularly if Bruce Willis was in them) since his wife Roberta had no taste for them when he was home.
We’d become close friends over 30+ years, me benefiting from his wisdom, faith, and encouragement, he getting the poor trade of me as his one “lay” reader of manuscripts to ensure they were accessible to non-academic mortals.
Jim was honored in December with a lifetime achievement award, and asked me to accept it on his behalf as he wasn’t well enough to travel. On the grounds that the poor folks who’d come to see him ought to at least get some words from him, I was able to eventually tease from him some reflections on his life, and they are the core of what I wrote for US News. I wrote it to share what he himself said, and to try to go beyond the litany of intellectual accomplishments. I hope you like it, and get a more complete sense of a wonderful man.
More importantly though, did he influence you too? How?
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Jul '11
Re: James Q. Wilson, in his words and mine
Heather,
Thank you for your appreciative post and your marvelous article. I enjoyed both of them. Those of us who never met James Q. Wilson now have a better picture of a remarkable man.
I'm not sure about influence on me. "Broken windows" is rediscovered common sense, but he and George Kelling had to come up with it. I have read The Moral Sense and found it very persuasive. I'll have to get into the archive of his work at National Affairs.
Feb '12
Re: James Q. Wilson, in his words and mine
I've been a fan for a long time. As an assistant professor, I sat in on his MBA government course at UCLA, and it was worth it, despite his occasional dismissals of economists (friendly--he knew I was there--- but intended, since he well knew the limitations of econ in policymaking).
Just two months I was looking for what I think was an idea of his, which I probably learned in that course back in 1990 or so, that three types of bureaucrats are Political, Career, and Professional so I could put them in a text I'm writing. Something like that is in his book, Bureaucracy, but not quite what I remembered. Does anybody know if he did have that typology, and where? (Political are those who are looking to get a better job in government outside their agency, Careerists are lifers in the agency, Professionals are those who like economists and scientists look to outside peers for approval.)
Aug '10
Re: James Q. Wilson, in his words and mine
Thank you so much for this. A revelation for this dropout. Immediately ordered an old copy of Negro Politics, a signed one no less. I noted it was pub. in 1960 and I wondered when third rail status was awarded to the group.Please provide some recommendations or a guide.How fast and what cars ?