Social Sciences

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

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At Kennedy School talk, Jeh Johnson advocates restructuring “outdated” DHS.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

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...

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...

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

Saving Money, Oil, and the Climate

The United States is in urgent need of a comprehensive, rational, and—above all—honest policy to guide its energy future, a policy...

Interest Rate Insight

Wondering what in the world is going on with the economy lately? Let Sebastian Mallaby explain.

When Farmers Met Foragers

A question mark has long hovered over human transitions from hunting and gathering to farming: did agriculture spread by communication—in...

by Jonathan Shaw

Litmus Test for a Law

Until the mid 1980s, victims of domestic abuse who called the police could expect the officers to do little more than tell the abusive spouse to...