"Rather than ask the question, "What if sociologists had influence?", the author should ask, "What does sociology need to change as a discipline in order to ear

"Rather than ask the question, "What if sociologists had influence?", the author should ask, "What does sociology need to change as a discipline in order to earn influence?"" It needs to generate 'useful' political recommendations (useful to the 'right' people). "The answer would be rigor." No it absolutely would not. The economics profession has been actively resisting rigor. For instance, Neoclassical (still the default in policy circles) still considers private debt to have no significant macroeconomic effect and presumes, religiously, that markets trend towards equilibrium (particularly in employment). "This is why economics is so much more trusted." It shouldn't be. "it at least uses objective data" Would you have any faith in a model rooted in Newtonian mechanics that assumed away friction just because "it at least uses objective data"?