Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

Berkeley Social Sciences explores the promise and pitfalls of generative AI tools

October 9, 2025
By Kenny Ma and Jessica Ballardo

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools are a daily reality at Berkeley Social Sciences. Faculty, students and alumni are embracing AI's ability to speed research, uncover new insights and prepare students for changing careers.

But they are also warning about the risks of letting chatbots think for us as AI tools such as large language models (LLMs) also present a growing concern for research ethics and teaching across the Division.

"AI is here to stay, but our responsibility is to ensure it serves student learning and research rather than shortcutting it," Social...

The history of vaccine hesitancy, from smallpox to COVID-19

September 26, 2025
Lila Thulin

Vaccine policy made national headlines last week when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine guidance committee met and scaled back recommendations around the COVID-19 booster and the combined MMRV shot. It’s far from the first time government vaccine policies have sparked heated discussion; since at least the turn of the...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/09/26/the-history-of-vaccine-hesitancy-from-small…

History professor discusses how meat shaped Jewish-German relations in new book

October 3, 2025
By Jessica Park

At first, studying meat consumption in Germany may seem like a niche topic. But for UC Berkeley History Professor John Efron, meat offers a revealing lens into Jewish-German relations throughout centuries.

In his new book, “All Consuming: Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat,” published earlier this year, Efron explores how meat in Germany from the Middle Ages until modern times – used in real and symbolic terms – served to distinguish Jews from Christians, along with Jews from each other. It simultaneously brought...

African American Studies launches three-year initiative on Black critical theory

October 2, 2025
By Jessica Ballardo

UC Berkeley’s African American Studies Department has launched a three-year initiative on Black critical theory to advance contemporary academic inquiry in Black studies.

The Black Critical Theory Initiative, which began in fall 2025, aims to explore new directions in the field of Black studies by focusing on its contemporary practitioners’ engagements with critical theory. The initiative’s founder and convener, African American Studies Professor Henry Washington, Jr., said the initiative aims to “bring greater attention to some of the more...

Researchers discuss the rise of tech authoritarianism at Social Science Matrix event

October 1, 2025
By Aubrey Spowart

California is the global center of technological advancement. A recent panel of researchers from Berkeley Social Sciences and other scholars convened last week at the Social Science Matrix to discuss how the rise of powerful tech entities and the rapid diffusion of new technologies across the state is reshaping society.

The “California Spotlight on Tech Authoritarianism” event panelists discussed the implications of these advancements, the undermining of democratic processes and the expanding frontiers of tech authoritarianism....

A New Approach to Awe

September 30, 2025
By Emma Goldberg, The New York Times

There’s a type of awe that surrounds the Jewish High Holy Days that is solemn, fearsome. People beating their chests, dressed in all white, lying on the ground.

During these 10 Days of Awe, God is said to be deciding who will and will not be inscribed in the Book of Life for the coming year. Even the word itself is tinged with dread: Etymologists traced “awe” back to the Middle English “ege,” which meant fear.

I grew up more religiously observant than I am now, so that awe used to feel easier to come by. At synagogue, reciting prayers, I was tuned into the divine, the...

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/briefing/a-new-approach-to-awe.html?utm_sourc…

Economics professor explores the impact of AI and tech layoffs in the Bay Area

October 1, 2025
By Jessica Park

For decades, San Francisco has been renowned as a major tech hub. But recently, the Bay Area has seen a slowdown in tech job opportunities, according to UC Berkeley Economics Professor Enrico Moretti.

Professor Moretti noted that declining tech job opportunities don’t only impact the tech industry — it affects the demand for local services through a “trickle...

UC Berkeley ranked No. 1 public school in the U.S. by the Wall Street Journal

September 30, 2025

Sather Gate with students in foreground

In new rankings released today (Monday, Sept. 29) by the Wall Street Journal and College Pulse, UC Berkeley was named the No. 1 public college in the country — the second year in a row it received the distinction.

Monday’s ranking comes one...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/09/29/uc-berkeley-ranked-no-1-public-school-in-th…

Social Sciences D-Lab supports fellowship to expand accessibility to data science education

September 30, 2025
By Jessica Park

The Social Sciences D-Lab recently launched a new program to prepare postdocs to lead research and teaching that emphasize equity, cultural relevance and ethical practice in data science.

In partnership with the Berkeley School of Education (BSE) and the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS), the two-year Berkeley Data Science Education Fellowship provides three postdocs with monthly skill-building workshops, teaching opportunities and multidisciplinary research opportunities.

“In...

Psychology study confirms positive emotions fade faster than negative emotions

September 25, 2025
By Aubrey Spowart

A new UC Berkeley Psychology study shows that not all emotions are created equal.

The study, titled "Letting Go of the Negative, Holding on to the Positive," tested whether emotions fade at different rates. It found that, over the course of time, negative emotions are more likely to persist.

The study was published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, one of the leading journals in social psychology research. It was designed by former Berkeley Psychology doctoral student...