Social Sciences
Explore faculty and student work in economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and other disciplines shaping our understanding of society.
America’s National Parks Are a $56 Billion Economic Engine
Harvard’s Linda Bilmes on measuring the economic value of public lands
Howard Gardner et al. on higher education in the twenty-first century
Howard Gardner and colleagues release a seven-year study of higher education in the twenty-first century.
Excerpt from Anne Harrington’s “Mind Fixers”
A history of psychiatry’s troubled search for the biology of mental illness
Replacement of Iberian Men 4,000 Years Ago Raises Fresh Questions
Ancient DNA reveals Bronze Age replacement of Iberian men, raising new questions.
Disadvantaged students in elite colleges
Anthony Jack’s new book on the “doubly disadvantaged”
Samuel Stouffer profile by Jackson Toby
Brief life of Samuel Stouffer, survey researcher: 1900-1960
by Jackson Toby
Excerpt from “How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration”
Unpacking “what art does to us”
Wanted: Big ideas from the humanities
Wanted: Big ideas from the humanities
Wage stagnation: economists look to new explanations
Economists look to new explanations for wage stagnation.
Debora Spar on technology’s role in the origins of marriage and feminism
Debora Spar argues that social change has always been driven by technology.
Will future online education become limited to professional degrees?
Harvard and MIT experiences suggest a more constrained vision for massive free courses.