Social Sciences

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

Harvard Law School exterior building to the left; to the right a lamp post with Harvard Law School banners

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

Arthur Kleinman, Rabb professor of anthropology and professor of medical anthropology, lectured at Fudan University’s Contemporary Anthropology Forum.

Harvard in China: connections in medical anthropology, ecological city planning

Ethnographic perspectives on caregiving and Shanghai urban development

"Networked" Web Extra: video and Web-exclusive sidebars on network science

Slime mold demonstrates the power of networks, fanning out to solve a maze and construct a railway map. Video and Web-exclusive sidebars to accompany the feature article "Networked."

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Honors thesis plumbs meltdown

A Harvard honors thesis on the Wall Street meltdown is a source for an important new book on the subject.

The complexity of nations’ economies changes over time. César Hidalgo used network science to graph the phenomenon, as shown below for 99 nations between the years 1963 and 2005.

Hausmann and Hidalgo find wealthier economies are also more complex

The most prosperous countries have economies that produce a variety of goods.

by Jonathan Shaw

Daniel Gilbert

Pleasure by Proxy: How Other People’s Experiences Help Predict Happiness

Other people’s experience is a more accurate guide than your own imagination to what you will like.

by Craig Lambert

Torturers think victims expressing pain are guilty

Inflicting pain changes the perceptions of torturers, not necessarily their knowledge.

Harvard Headlines: Derek Bok, Ellen Langer, Lawrence Lessig

A review of Bok's new book, The Politics of Happiness; a profile of positive-psychology pioneer Langer; Lessig's suggestions for reforming Congress

Harvard perspectives on world economic crises

A panel of social scientists dissects past mistakes, and sees daunting fiscal and regulatory challenges ahead for the United States and Europe.

Oscar nominees include film from book by Harvard anthropologist Kimberly Theidon

Kimberly Theidon's book on female victims of Peruvian violence was the basis for The Milk of Sorrow, nominated for best foreign-language film.

This image, provided by a member of the Boston University delegation upon his return from Haiti, shows the wall map sheets printed at Harvard being used for damage assessment surveys.

Harvard Rallies Help for Haiti with Benefit Concert; Plans Memorial Service

Evidence of Harvard maps in use; updates on the situation on the ground; a benefit concert featuring student performers and a memorial service.