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

An imagined scene of a meeting between a Spanish expeditionary party and a group of indigenous South Americans.

Nations fail due to institutional corruption, not geography, says James Robinson

James Robinson says that in the modern period, greedy leaders and institutional corruption, rather than geography, explain why some nations fail.

African Americans vote in Alabama in 1966, in the wake of the Voting Rights Act.

Harvard's Alexandar Keyssar analyzes voter suppression measures

Voting rights and partisan practices in a highly contested election year

by Alexander Keyssar

Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson urge compromise in U.S. politics

Continuous campaigning and gridlocked governing in American politics

by Amy Gutmann , Dennis Thompson

Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig explains how money corrupts Congress

Lawrence Lessig thinks American democracy requires a constitutional overhaul to counter the “economy of influence.”

by Jonathan Shaw

This teenager regularly hurries from his job to a local day-care center to spend time with his son in his new role as a father.

Kathryn Edin explains the increase in births out of wedlock

Kathryn Edin of Harvard Kennedy School explains why more and more American children are born out of wedlock.

by Kevin Hartnett

The 2012 honorary-degree recipients. Back row from left: Walter Kohn, John Adams, Provost Alan Garber, President Drew Faust, Fareed Zakaria, Mario Molina, and K. Anthony Appiah. Front row from left: Gillian Beer, John Lewis, and Wendy Kopp

Harvard awards eight honorary degrees at Commencement 2012

Eight awarded honorary degrees at 361st Commencement exercises

Top row, from left: Daniel Aaron and Karl Eikenberry. Bottom row, from left: Nancy Hopkins and Robert Keohane

Harvard graduate school centennial medalists 2012

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences confers its 2012 Centennial Medals

From left: Caroline Elkins, Annette Gordon-Reed, Ingrid Monson, and Andrew Strominger

Harvard Radcliffe Institute 2012-2013 fellows

Harvard’s advanced-study center plans 51 resident academics, artists

illustration

Sociologist Kevin Lewis probes preferences in online dating

How personal preferences drive our choice of mates—as understood through an online dating site.

by Erin O’Donnell

David Scheffer in 1997 at the Nyanza massacre memorial site in Rwanda

Jacqueline Bhabha reviews David Scheffer's new book on war crimes tribunals

On the evolving system of international criminal justice

by Jacqueline Bhabha