Social Sciences

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

Is the Constitution Broken?

Harvard legal scholars debate the state of our founding national document.

by Lydialyle Gibson

The Off-Kilter Economy

Reckoning with inflation and its remedies

by Jonathan Shaw

Where We Went Wrong

A sweeping history of society and the economy in the twentieth century

Will Global Democracy Survive?

Scholars on the current rise of fascism, domestically and abroad

by Nancy Walecki

America’s Riven Politics

 A Harvard Magazine Q & A with Evan Osnos ’98, author of Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury

Seeking the First Speakers of Indo-European Language

Ancient DNA sheds new light on the origins of a lingua franca.

by Jonathan Shaw

Who Should Drive an Electric Vehicle?

Targeting the wrong buyers—and producing more greenhouse-gas emissions

by Nancy Walecki

Origins of the Urban Housing Crisis

The high costs of environmental, historic-preservation, and other good intentions

by Jonathan Shaw

The Causes of Long COVID

Trying to understand infections’ persistent effects—and to develop cures

by Jonathan Shaw

Public Health Messaging in a Pandemic

How much intervention is too much, or not enough, when addressing a politically and socially diverse population?

by Isabel Mehta

Why Aid Cuts Didn’t End Worker Shortages

Why cutting jobless aid during the pandemic didn’t send workers scrambling for work

by Erin O’Donnell