In the late 1960s, as sociology embraced scientific protocols, distinguishing itself from humanistic and anthropological modes of producing knowledge, ethnography (and ethnographers) grew less influential. Participant observation with a small sample—of people, neighborhoods, groups, or organizations—was overshadowed by large-scale studies that were amenable to quantitative analysis. By no means did fieldwork-based case studies and participant observation disappear, but the most significant disciplinary initiatives were no longer directed by ethnographers; leadership came from organizational analysts, demographers, specialists of immigration, selfdescribed “theoreticians,” economic sociologists, institutional analysts, and mathematical modelers. In fact, even within its traditional home, urban studies, ethnographers assumed a backstage role.

There were many reasons for this shift, and none has …