Why is social science divided into ever smaller subfields? Why do policy-makers rarely pay attention to social science knowledge? Why do social scientists speak with so little certainty about the causes and solutions to pressing human problems? Hubert M Blalock Jr looks at some of the compelling questions surrounding social science today. He argues that there are systematic ways of overcoming the traps that have constrained social science, and that given rigorous data analysis and theory construction, collective efforts to eliminate individual biases, and more intellectual integrity and creativity, social science has the potential to be far more productive than it is at present.