Social Sciences
Explore faculty and student work in economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and other disciplines shaping our understanding of society.
Is the Constitution Broken?
Harvard legal scholars debate the state of our founding national document.
Feldstein: Why the Government Should Help Homeowners
On the opinion page of yesterday's Washington Post, Feldstein (Baker professor of economics, who soon ends his term as...
Islam in the United States, from 1492 to 2008
A recent episode of the Here & Now interview show on WBUR, a Boston-based National Public Radio affiliate, features Jocelyne Cesari, director of Harvard's Islam in the West Program...
Scanning the Social Sciences
Letters have gone out inviting senior faculty members from across the University, nominated by the deans of their respective schools, to...
The ancient Mesopotamian settlement of Tell Brak
Evidence of ancient urbanism at the Mesopotamian settlement of Tell Brak....
by Paul Gleason
Making Credit Safer
It is impossible to buy a toaster that has a one-in-five chance of bursting into flames and burning down your house. But it is possible to...
Race in a Genetic World
“I am an African American,” says Duana Fullwiley, “but in parts of Africa, I am white.” To do fieldwork as a medical...
Are Immigration Authorities' Efforts to Curb Gangs Backfiring?
Matthew Quirk ’03 explains how deportation of Latino gang members by U.S. immigration authorities may actually make the gangs stronger...
The Talking Cure
For decades, insurers and risk-management departments have told doctors that if they make a mistake, the last thing they should do is admit it...
Inevitable Mistakes, Avoidable Harm
The culture of medicine has long tried to keep doctors from making mistakes by indoctrinating them to believe that they shouldn’t make...
Born Digital
Forty years ago they were “Born Free,” 20 years ago they were “Born in the U.S.A.,” but today kids are born digital, and...
by Paul Gleason