Social Sciences

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

A group of children interacts with an adult man, some laughing and smiling.

Robert Coles Was Most at Home on the Playground

A colleague remembers the late Harvard professor and child psychiatrist, who died this month.

by Alex Harris

Video: award-winning public-service ads designed to scare smokers into quitting

View ads from Massachusetts and Armenia designed to scare smokers into quitting.

Video: computerized tests evaluate people's risk of attempting suicide

Learn about computerized tests that evaluate whether someone is at risk of attempting suicide. Plus, related links and an article from the magazine archives.

Matthew Nock sits in his lab’s control room, where researchers record subjects’ behavioral and physiological responses during experiments. For example, they might measure whether people who engage in self-injury show greater emotional distress, in response to frustrating tasks, than people who do not. (Nock’s lab manager and a postdoctoral fellow are seen in the adjoining room through one-way glass.)

Matthew Nock studies suicide and self-injury

Understanding suicide and self-injury

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Amos Doolittle cheekily depicted the passions over ratification in this 1787 engraving with watercolor, with “Federals” (business interests), left, and agrarian “Antifederals,” right, differing over currency and Connecticut’s debts: a mired wagon being pulled in opposite directions.

Jack Rakove reviews Pauline's Maier's "Ratification," on the U.S. Constitution

The great experiment in constitution-making

by Jack Rakove

When poverty is defined as living on $1.25 or less a day, about 40 percent of both Ethiopians and Uzbekistanis are considered poor. But by multidimensional measures that capture living standards, almost 90 percent of Ethiopians live in poverty, while only a small percentage of Uzbekistanis do.

Amartya Sen proposes a measure of poverty that looks beyond income

A multidimensional poverty index, based on the ideas of Amartya Sen, reveals a different map of the world's poor.

Peter Marsden named dean for social sciences

The sociologist oversees a large Arts and Sciences division.

Charts of economist Raj Chetty's findings about kindergarten teachers' influence

View charts of economist Raj Chetty's findings about kindergarten teachers' influence.

Amy Cuddy at Harvard Business School’s Baker Library

Profile of social psychologist Amy Cuddy of Harvard Business School

Amy Cuddy probes snap judgments, warm feelings, and how to become an “alpha dog.”

by Craig Lambert

Our sense of touch influences our actions

Tactile sensations change perceptions, says psychologist Christopher Nocera.

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Raj Chetty

Raj Chetty: Good kindergarten teachers boost pupils' lifetime earnings

An economist finds that good kindergarten teachers boost pupils' earnings later in life.

by Erin O’Donnell