This book utilizes narratives from U.S. and Caribbean scholars to examine the viability of sociologists changing the world from below through sporadic interdependent networks (Piven 2008). The conclusion reached is that in its current state, the academy can do little to improve conditions in society, as sociologists are themselves embattled by defeating narratives revolving around: poor personal experiences; the recalcitrance of Old World history; European epistemological meta-narratives, and; the multi-paradigmatic criteria for determining sociological knowledge. If sociologists are to finally influence society then the academy has to first overcome its calcified European and Anglo-American principles of domination.

Colonial Capital Theory at Work: The Case of Jamaica contributes to our understanding of the emerging Caribbean and explains how some have intentionally used "sociological imagination," or the links between history and biography, to achieve prosperity. O. Alexander Miller examines how potential immigrants from the Caribbean employ sociological imagination and, by so doing, achieve sustained intergenerational financial prosperity even while living in relatively poor home societies. The book focuses on Jamaicans because they are one of the largest groups of black Caribbean immigrants in the United States and England. Furthermore, their home society illustrates how well sociological imagination works for those who employ it, even in a post-colonial society where there are historical disparities between the socially approved goals of society and the structural means for reaching those goals. Colonial Capital Theory at Work is written not only for scholars in sociology, migration studies and Caribbean studies, but also for members of immigrant communities, especially of African ancestry.

This work captures the compelling life stories of three types of Jamaican immigrants, including deportees, and examines how the transfer of different types of social capital affects their quests for social mobility. The concept of this particular type of social capital, in this case referred to as 'colonial capital' is introduced in the literature to categorize migrants. The term and idea of colonial capital derives from a quartet of ancient prejudices about family and skin pigmentation; education; social graces; and financial capital. The acquisition of any one element of colonial capital is of little use in achieving a higher class status. The stories of these immigrants reveal three types of migrants: those with high colonial capital who resettle in Jamaica; disgruntled migrants with mid-colonial capital who often become transmigrants; and deportees_a group whose low-colonial capital renders them vulnerable abroad and in Jamaica. As a consequence of the evaluation of this phenomenon, the 'Transnational Theory' is re-evaluated and extended to the 'Colonial Capital Theory of Migration.'