Social Sciences

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

A bronze sculpture of intertwined hands in a park, with a discussion panel in the foreground.

Is the Constitution Broken?

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

by Lydialyle Gibson

Michael Kremer

Michael Kremer Departs for the University of Chicago

Development economist pulls up roots.

by John S. Rosenberg

Photograph of Bharat Ramamurti

CARES Act watchdog Bharat Ramamurti ’03

Bharat Ramamurti ’03 oversees CARES Act spending—and pursues corporate reform.

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

A cartoon illustration showing a situation room with businessmen, farmers, and other food system constituents moving the parts of the food system around on a game board.

Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, led by Emily Broad Leib

A holistic approach to food safety and food law

by Erin O’Donnell

Illustration of a man looking at constellations with ants traversing the shortest distance between the stars in the constellation.

Using puzzles to teach physics

In his freshman seminar, Cumrun Vafa uses puzzles to help students understand complex physics.

by Steve Nadis

A woman seated on a stool wearing traditional Mongolian garb milks a yak.

Dairy culture on the Eurasian Steppe

Ancient dental plaque points to the historical significance of dairy culture on the Eurasian Steppe.

by Jonathan Shaw

Illustration of a professor striving to keep up with a fast-walking elderly Hadza woman

Excerpt from “Exercised,” by Daniel E. Lieberman

A biological anthropologist explains why and how exercise works to combat senescence.

by Daniel E. Lieberman

Photograph of Professor Noah Feldman at House impeachment hearings, December 4, 2019

Constitutional scholar Noah Feldman profiled by Lincoln Caplan

Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman’s constitutionalism is a branch of the humanities.

by Lincoln Caplan

Black journalist Claudia Jones on the phone in the offices of the “West Indian Gazette” in London

Claudia Jones

Brief life of an intersectional activist: 1915-1964

by Clarissa Atkinson

Illustration about meritocracy: one mother penguin and chick wear college mortarboards, while another mother penguin and her chick don’t.

Michael Sandel’s “The Tyranny of Merit” reviewed by Spencer Lenfield

Michael Sandel makes the case against meritocracy.

by Spencer Lee Lenfield

View of the Royall House and the slave quarters.

Medford’s Royall House and Slave Quarters

Preserving black history as “an act of liberation”

by Nell Porter-Brown