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.

by Lydialyle Gibson

The Slave Rebellion in New York City

Historian Jill Lepore explores the lives of slaves during an alleged eighteenth century uprising

by Jonathan Shaw

Public-health response to gun fatalities: make weapons less lethal

The public-health response to gun casualties: make the weapons less lethal

by Craig Lambert

Who Built the Pyramids?

Not slaves. Archaeologist Mark Lehner, digging deeper, discovers a city of privileged workers.

by Jonathan Shaw

Censorship online

Originally, the World Wide Web was envisioned as exactly that—a global vehicle for the unimpeded flow of information, without barriers...

by Craig Lambert

Human origins driven by technological and cultural revolutions

Ofer Bar-Yosef argues that cultural and technological revolutions have been more important than biological ones during the past 100, 000 years.

by Jonathan Shaw

Orlando Patterson on Freedom and our sick democracy

America's troubled democracy

Animal Liberation

Peter Singer on nonhuman consciousness and the animal-protection movement

by John Lauerman