Social Sciences (Faculty & Staff)

The country’s two biggest states are locked in a political contest that reflects the uncompromising polarization of our time: Texas and other Republican strongholds are redrawing congressional district maps to win more seats in the 2026 election, and California is now considering a similar move, hoping to offset Texas by sending more Democrats to Washington, D.C.

It’s an arcane fight, using the peculiar processes of gerrymandering to press for maximum political power. But the stakes are incredibly high, says UC Berkeley political scientist Eric Schickler. While a ballot...

History Professor Trevor Jackson authored a book review for The New York Review.

What happened to the future? When did we lose it, and what has taken its place? Political scientists have found a continual decline in visions of a shared transformative future since the early 1980s. Around the world, in party manifestos, inaugural speeches, and programmatic policy documents, principled statements about an open-ended future have given way to numerical targets like GDP growth achieved, emissions reduced, or people deported. The political right has been more...

UC Berkeley History Professor Carlos Noreña first came to Berkeley as a student in 1988, where he developed a lifelong fascination with Mediterranean antiquity. After earning his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania and teaching at Yale in the Department of Classics, he returned to Berkeley, where he has spent the past two decades sharing his passion for Roman history with students.

Noreña’s research encompasses Roman history, geography and material cultures. He is currently working on a book about Roman imperialism, a series of articles on...

The number of unhoused individuals in the U.S. reached a record high of 770,000 at the end of 2024 (Porter 2024). Homelessness policy remains a source of vehement partisan debate. Some argue that homelessness is, in fact, a housing problem, with permanent housing solutions required to help those most in need. Others argue that those who are chronically unhoused must have issues that go beyond lack of affordable housing; instead, untreated mental illness and substance use are often at the heart of the problem. Should homelessness policy target housing or mental health treatment? My research...