New Directions
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Event Date: March 10th, 2026
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM PT
New Directions: Colonial Legacies, Post-Colonial Perspectives
Colonial legacies continue to shape political, social, and intellectual life. While colonialism is often treated as a historical period, its structures and logics persist in contemporary debates around race, territory, knowledge, and power. This panel — part of the Social Science Matrix New Directions series — will bring together UC Berkeley graduate students from anthropology, geography, and sociology to examine how colonial histories are reproduced, contested, and reimagined across different contexts.
Learn More >Special Event
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Event Date: March 11th, 2026
4:00pm-5:30pm
Social Science Matrix – BESI Open House
Register to join us on March 11 at 4:00pm for the Matrix-BESI Open House. Co-organized by Social Science Matrix and the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative (BESI), this event is an opportunity to network with other members of the Berkeley social science community and learn more about our projects, events, and funding and research opportunities. Light bites and refreshments will be served.
Learn More >CRELS
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Event Date: March 18th, 2026
1:30pm
Algorithms of Distinction: Class, Credit Scores, and Property in South Africa
Please join us on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 1:30pm for a public lecture by Julien Migozzi, an economic geographer and Assistant Professor in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge. Professor Migozzie's lecture, "Algorithms of Distinction: Class, Credit Scores, and Property in South Africa," will explore how how digital, legal, and financial transformations have reorganized the housing market in Cape Town, South Africa.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
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Event Date: April 7th, 2026
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM PT
Trevor Jackson: “The Insatiable Machine: How Capitalism Conquered the World”
Join us for a panel on "The Insatiable Machine," by Professor Trevor Jackson, which traces capitalism’s development from the accidental construction of an international monetary system to the creation of banking, the emergence of a new form of slavery, fossil–fuel industrialization, and finally the global capitalist system spread by imperialism.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
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Event Date: April 8th, 2026
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM PT
Matrix on Point: The U.S. Dollar Hegemony in Transition
Amid shifting global dynamics and the rapid development of stablecoins and other digital assets, new questions are emerging around the structure and evolution of dollar hegemony. This panel will bring together scholars and industry voices to examine the foundation of US monetary influence and the role of financial innovation in an evolving global economy.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
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Event Date: April 9th, 2026
12:00pm-1:30pm
Incommunicable: Toward Communicative Justice in Health and Medicine
Please join us on Thursday, April 9th from 12-1:30pm for an Authors Meet Critics panel on the book "Incommunicable: Toward Communicative Justice in Health and Medicine," by Charles Briggs, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley. Professor Briggs will be joined in conversation by Elinor Ochs and Eric Snoey.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
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Event Date: April 20th, 2026
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM PT
POSTPONED: Daniela Cammack: “Demos: How the People Ruled Athens”
The Authors Meet Critics panel on the book "Demos: How the People Ruled Athens," by Daniela Cammack, Assistant Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley, has been postponed. Stay tuned to the Matrix website and newsletter for future updates.
Learn More >CRELS
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Event Date: April 21st, 2026
10:00am-11:30am
Scoring Justice: Risk Assessment Tools, Court Practices, and Fairness Perceptions
Please join us on Tuesday, April 21 for a lecture by Simone Zhang, Assistant Professor of Sociology at New York University. Zhang's research examines how classification systems, predictive models, and AI shape the distribution of benefits, burdens, and recognition in society. Much of her work focuses on the implications of these systems for institutional decision-making in social policy, education, and law.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
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Event Date: April 29th, 2026
4:00pm-5:30pm
Normalizing Inequality: How Californians Make Sense of the Growing Divide
In their new book, "Normalizing Inequality," sociologists G. Cristina Mora and Tianna S. Paschel illuminate how middle-class Californians perceive and come to accept the inequalities that surround them. At this Authors Meet Critics event, Professors Mora and Paschel will be joined in conversation by Desmond Jagmohan and Lisa García Bedolla, with Nicholas Vargas moderating.
Learn More >California Spotlight
Recap
Published March 3, 2026
California Spotlight: Higher Education Under Attack
Recorded on February 9, 2026, this panel brought together scholars — including Charlie Eaton, Katherine Newman, Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra, and Christopher Kutz — to examine the forces challenging public higher education today. Drawing on areas spanning finance, policy, and labor, the discussion explored how these dynamics are shaping the UC System, and what is at stake for students, employees, the public, and the future of higher education.
Learn More >Matrix Teach-In
Recap
Published March 3, 2026
Matrix Teach-In: Ula Taylor, “The Making of Frances M. Beal’s Black Feminist House”
Recorded on February 19, 2026, this video presents a lecture by Ula Taylor, Professor and Chair of the Department of African American Studies & African Diaspora Studies. The talk centered on Professor Taylor’s current work in progress, an oral biography of Frances M. Beal. The talk was a Matrix Teach-In, a series designed to bring UC Berkeley’s most engaging social science lectures into a public setting.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published March 3, 2026
Matrix on Point: Corruption in America
Watch the video (or listen to the podcast) of our recent Matrix on Point panel focused on "Corruption in America," featuring leading scholars from business, political science, and law to examine the many facets of corruption in the United States and the ways it is identified, constrained, and addressed.
Learn More >Matrix News
Funding Opportunity
Published February 25, 2026
Applications Open: 2026-2027 Research Teams, Iris Hui Memorial Scholarship
Social Science Matrix is pleased to present two funding opportunities: for 2026-2027 Matrix Research Teams, and for the Iris Hui Memorial Scholarship.
Learn More >Interview
Podcast
Published February 3, 2026
“Some College” and the Social Function of Higher Education: An Interview with Sarah Payne
What are the economic consequences of starting, but not completing college? On this episode of the Matrix Podcast, Sarah Harrington, Program Manager at Social Science Matrix, spoke with Sarah Payne, a sociologist who recently published a paper in Sociology of Education that examined what happens when students begin college but fail to graduate. “Although non-completion […]
Learn More >Lecture
Recap
Published February 3, 2026
American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to Now
How did Americans come to elect Barack Obama — and then Donald Trump? Watch the video of a talk by Paul Starr, Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, and Stuart Professor of Communications and Public Affairs, at Princeton University, discussing his book, "American Contradiction: Revolution and Revenge from the 1950s to Now."
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