"Live" with TAE.(interview with James Q. Wilson)(Interview)

America's most quoted criminologist--and one of our most prominent social scientists generally--discusses crime, race, religion, slavery, regional differences, and marriage.

James Q. Wilson is a provocative and influential scholar who studies crime, character, and a host of other issues. In the 1960s, '70s, and '80s his iconoclastic work about crime and policing reshaped the way Americans think about these topics. More recently, he has tackled subjects like human cloning, suburban sprawl, and, in his forthcoming book, the decline of marriage in the United States. Wilson currently serves as the chairman of the American Enterprise Institute's Council of Academic Advisors. He spoke with TAE contributing writer Eli Lehrer in Washington, D.C.

TAE: In the mid-1980s, you left Harvard for UCLA, and two years ago you left UCLA for Pepperdine. What's Pepperdine like? WILSON: I don't work at Pepperdine. I give four lectures a year there because I'm only ten minutes away. That's my only connection. I used to say I was retired, but my wife pointed out I was working even harder than when I was not retired. So I no longer say "retired." I now say, "I don't go to the office."

TAE: Would you ever consider moving back to the East Coast?

WILSON: Under no circumstances whatsoever. grew up in California. I spent most of my adult life trying to figure out how to get back to California. Now that I'm there, I will only be carried out feet first.

TAE: In the 1960s you wrote an article tracing Ronald Reagan's ideas and philosophies to the Southern California area where you grew up and he first rose to prominence. Have regional differences like the ones you believe produced Reagan begun to dissipate?

WILSON: Yes, I think so. To pick some extreme examples, California and the South in the 1960s were very distinctive. Their distinctiveness has been reduced partly because of the migration of people around the country. Today, California is as likely to be settled with people from New Jersey as it is with people who grew up in California. The South is settled by people from Boston and New York as much as from Atlanta and Dallas. Our economy isn't only a globalized one, it's a truly national economy. We have instantaneous means of communication for almost everyone. It's interesting that differences persist despite the nationalizing influences.