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 News

Article

Published July 10, 2026

Matrix Welcomes Eight Research Teams for 2026-2027

Social Science Matrix is pleased to welcome eight new Matrix Research Teams — three faculty-led teams and five graduate student-led teams — for the 2026-2027 academic year. The teams will address topics such as the political economy of wildfire risk, the global politics of declining fertility, and the use of digital tools for governance and development in South Asia.

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Interview

Published December 18, 2019

Q&A with David Harding: “On the Outside: Prisoner Reentry and Reintegration”

An interview with David Harding, Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley and co-author of the book On the Outside: Prisoner Reentry and Reintegration, which examines the lives of 22 people as they pass out of the prison gates and back into the world.

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Authors Meet Critics

Recap

Published December 12, 2019

In the Ruins of Neoliberalism

Watch the video from our "Authors Meet Critics" panel on Professor Wendy Brown's In the Ruins of Neoliberalism: The Rise of Anti-Democratic Politics in the West.

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Matrix On Point

Recap

Published November 27, 2019

On IPCC, Climate Crisis

A "Matrix On Point" panel examined the climate crisis from diverse disciplinary perspectives.

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Matrix On Point

Recap

Published November 10, 2019

The Trump Impeachment

Recorded on November 5, 2019, Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and Professor Robert B. Reich discuss "The Trump Impeachment."

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Podcast

Interview

Published October 30, 2019

Matrix Podcast: Interview with Dacher Keltner

In this episode of the Matrix Podcast, Michael Watts talks with Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology, Director of the Berkeley Social Interaction Laboratory, and Faculty Director of the Greater Good Science Center.

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Inequality

Article

Published October 29, 2019

Q&A: Professor Gabriel Zucman

A new book by Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez argues that the American tax system is more unfair than ever—but there are ways to fix it.

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