Social Sciences

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

A discussion panel featuring two speakers seated in chairs, with a blue backdrop and an American flag.

Former Homeland Security Chief Says ICE and CBP Have “Lost Their Way”

At Kennedy School talk, Jeh Johnson advocates restructuring “outdated” DHS.

by Lydialyle Gibson

Jay Lorsch and Rakesh Khurana offer a new paradigm for executive compensation

Time for a new paradigm for executive compensation

by Jay Lorsch , Rakesh Khurana

Gutenberg 2.0: What future for libraries?

Harvard’s libraries deal with disruptive change.

by Jonathan Shaw

Ben Adida

Online voting system Helios offers prototype for transparent, secure elections

The online voting system Helios offers a prototype for transparency and security in elections.

Chlorine dispensers clustered outside the IPA office

Michael Kremer's Group Aims To Bring Safe Drinking Water to the Developing World

A Harvard professor's project in Kenya strives to avoid common pitfalls of development work.

Amy Oster (second from right) and Stephen Kosslyn (right)

Scholars from Harvard and beyond address "hard problems" in the social sciences

Scholars from Harvard and elsewhere name their fields' most pressing problems, and open a forum for public debate on the Web.

Bass professor of government Michael Sandel delivered a luncheon address that examined the way markets “leave their mark” on the rest of society.

Harvard in China: Michael Sandel comments on the moral limits of markets

Remarks by Michael Sandel

Harvard in China: Barry Bloom, Arthur Kleinman, and Yuanli Liu on healthcare

A panel discussion with Barry Bloom, Yuanli Liu, and Arthur Kleinman

Arthur Kleinman, Rabb professor of anthropology and professor of medical anthropology, lectured at Fudan University’s Contemporary Anthropology Forum.

Harvard in China: connections in medical anthropology, ecological city planning

Ethnographic perspectives on caregiving and Shanghai urban development

"Networked" Web Extra: video and Web-exclusive sidebars on network science

Slime mold demonstrates the power of networks, fanning out to solve a maze and construct a railway map. Video and Web-exclusive sidebars to accompany the feature article "Networked."

by Elizabeth Gudrais

Honors thesis plumbs meltdown

A Harvard honors thesis on the Wall Street meltdown is a source for an important new book on the subject.