Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

In Berkeley Talks episode 217, john a. powell and Stephen Menendian, director and assistant director of UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute, discuss their 2024 book, Belonging Without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World

During the campus event, the scholars touch on the transformative role of imagination...

At least 11 people have been killed and over 10,000 structures burned in and around Los Angeles since a series of wildfires erupted on Tuesday. Propelled by powerful Santa Ana winds and historically dry conditions, the fires quickly became among the most destructive in California history and among the costliest disasters ever seen in the U.S. Roughly 150,000 people remain under evacuation orders on Friday, with blazes...

Prisha Bhadra said her journey to graduate from UC Berkeley began long before she set foot on campus. Her parents, who immigrated from India, “left behind familiarity, security, and every single loved one they had” to give her the chance to choose her own path. For students with immigrant roots, she said, “This moment feels bigger than just us. It’s the...

The past decade has seen historic challenges for U.S. democracy and an intense focus by scholars on events that seem to signal democratic decline. But new research released today (Dec. 17) finds that a bias toward pessimism among U.S. political scientists often leads to inaccurate predictions about the future threats to democracy.

The research, co-authored by UC Berkeley political scientist Andrew T. Little, offers a possible solution: an approach that aggregates experts’ predictions, finds the middle ground and then reduces the influence of pessimism, leading to the...