Mario Luis Small, Ph.D., is Grafstein Family Professor in the Department of Sociology at Harvard University. Small has published award-winning articles, edited volumes, and books on topics such as urban poverty, personal networks, and the relationship between qualitative and quantitative methods. His books include Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio and Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life, both of which received the C. Wright Mills Award for Best Book. His latest book, Someone To Talk To: How Networks Matter in Practice, examines how people decide whom in their network to turn to when seeking a confidant. Small is currently studying the relationship between networks and decision-making, the ability of large-scale data to answer critical questions about poverty, and the role qualitative inquiry in cumulative social science.
