UC Berkeley’s flagship institute for social science research

Our purpose is captured in our name: we provide an organizational framework—a “matrix”—that supports cross-disciplinary research pursued by social scientists across the University of California, Berkeley campus and beyond.

Matrix On Point

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Event Date: April 25th, 2025
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM PT

Governing Giants: Law, Politics, and Antitrust

This panel will bring together scholars of political science, economics, and law to discuss new challenges in competition policy, the domestic and international dimensions of antitrust policy, and the economic, political, and social considerations that shape antitrust policy and enforcement. Moderated by Matrix Faculty Fellow Ryan Brutger (UC Berkeley, Political Science), the panel will feature Amy Pond (Washington University St. Louis, Political Science), Prasad Krishnamurthy (UC Berkeley, Law), and Michael Allen (Stanford, Political Science).

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Podcast

Interview

Published July 27, 2023

The Binational Politics of Return Migrant Activism: Interview with Caroline Tracey

Listen to (or read) an interview with Caroline Tracey, a PhD from the UC Berkeley Department of Geography, whose research uses ethnographic, archival, and literary methods to study the American Southwest, Mexico, and the US-Mexico border. Tracey argues that women and trans deportees and returnees play an important role in community-building and activism in Mexico that has improved emplacement for all return migrants.

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Economy

Interview

Published June 26, 2023

Balancing Property Taxes for Schools: An Interview with Quitzé Valenzuela-Stookey

Read an interview with Quitzé Valenzuela-Stookey, Assistant Professor in UC Berkeley’s Department of Economics, about his research on how reforming property taxes can reduce inequality among school districts in the United States.

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Roundtable

Recap

Published June 13, 2023

Roundtable with Orlando Patterson: The Nature and Invention of Freedom

Recorded on May 2, 2023, this video features a roundtable conversation with Orlando Patterson focused on "The Paradox of Freedom," an interview with Patterson by David Scott conducted in 2013. Joining Patterson in conversation for this Social Science Matrix Roundtable were Ricarda Hammer, incoming Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley, and Daniela Cammack, Assistant Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley. The discussion was moderated by Caitlin Rosenthal, Associate Professor of History at UC Berkeley.

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Lecture

Recap

Published June 7, 2023

Consent and Legitimacy: A Revised Bellicose Theory of State-Building with Evidence from around the World, 1500–2000

Recorded on March 9, 2023, this video features Andreas Wimmer, Lieber Professor of Sociology and Political Philosophy at Columbia University, presenting a talk entitled "Consent and Legitimacy: A Revised Bellicose Theory of State-Building with Evidence from around the World, 1500–2000."

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Matrix Lecture

Recap

Published June 6, 2023

Slavery and Genocide: The U.S., Jamaica, and the Historical Sociology of Evil

 On May 1, 2023, Social Science Matrix was honored to present a Matrix Distinguished Lecture by Orlando Patterson, John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. Professor Patterson’s lecture was entitled “Slavery and Genocide: The U.S, Jamaica and the Historical Sociology of Evil.” The event was co-sponsored by the Townsend Center for the Humanities, […]

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Podcast

Interview

Published May 17, 2023

Structural Determinants of Police Violence: Interview with Kimberly Cecilia Burke

For this episode of the Matrix Podcast, we spoke with Kimberly Cecilia Burke, a PhD candidate in Sociology at UC Berkeley, whose dissertation uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine how Black-White interracial couples understand and experience police violence in their relationships.

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