Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

In many places in the Global South, armed groups — not the state— set the rules. In many neighborhoods in Brazil, that is also the case. In Rio de Janeiro, for instance, criminal organizations provide services, enforce social rules, and regulate daily lives. These armed groups range from drug trafficking organizations to paramilitary groups, often referred to as “militias.” Militias are often composed of former police officers and soldiers, exerting influence not just through coercion but through the provision of counterfeit public goods and their embeddedness in politics....

What began as a summer study abroad program became a cross-continental storytelling project for a group of Berkeley Social Sciences students who turned their experiences studying immigration and identity into a multimedia zine. They used the digital journal to document their personal reflections, political analysis, and travel tips with vibrant photography.

Under the guidance of Ethnic Studies Continuing Lecturer Pablo Gonzalez, students in the Summer 2025 “El Otro Lado / The Other Side” program in Spain documented their reflections on...

Economics Professor Emmanuel Saez was featured in a Bloomberg News article.

“The tax is small relative to the massive gains billionaires have made yet large enough to preserve programs that are crucial for California’s economy and its continued success,“ said Emmanuel Saez, an economics professor.

Ethnic Studies Professor Carolyn Chen was interviewed for the KQED Forum podcast.

According to San Francisco workers, the hustle culture of the pre-pandemic days has returned in the form of long working days and weekends at the office. So called “996 work”, which originates from China’s tech scene, is a work schedule that starts at 9 a.m. and ends at 9 p.m., six days a week. The hustle isn’t new to Silicon Valley, but the hyper-competitive AI tech race and the fact that some employers are making 996 mandatory for its staff, or using it as a recruitment filter, could lead to...