Social Sciences

Explore faculty and student work in economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and other disciplines shaping our understanding of society.

Harvard Law School Announces a New National Security Initiative

The program will focus on the U.S. Congress and the separation of powers in its first year.

by Tamara Evdokimova

Harvard economist Claudia Goldin examines the gender wage gap

Economist Claudia Goldin investigates what causes the gender wage gap, and what doesn't.

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Political theorist Danielle Allen is profiled by Spencer Lenfield

Danielle Allen’s mission to return equality to the heart of American democracy

by Spencer Lee Lenfield

Harvard economist Richard Freeman on the risks of robotization of the economy

Most people’s jobs are at risk of becoming robotized, argues labor economist Richard Freeman.

by Richard B. Freeman

Susan Dunn reviews Jefferson biography by Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf

Thomas Jefferson's “fractal” view of American self-governance

by Susan Dunn

Harvard historians: ice records shed light on medieval climate

Historians at Harvard's Initiative for the Science of the Human Past investigate ice cores.

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Economists debate the merits of school choice

Economists rethink the merits of school-choice systems.

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Harvard's eugenics era

When academics embraced scientific racism, immigration restrictions, and the suppression of “the unfit”

by Adam S. Cohen

Brief life of Federalist politician Caleb Strong, by Richard D. Brown

Brief life of an exemplary politician: 1745-1819

by Richard D. Brown

Comparing the end of the death penalty in France and America

An historian tracks the death penalty’s persistence in America.

by Sophia Nguyen

Jacqueline Bhabha critiques the world's response to migration crises

Harvard human-rights expert Jacqueline Bhabha critiques the inadequate response to the world’s migration crises.

by Jacqueline Bhabha