Book Talk
Recap
Published May 14, 2026
Benjamin Recht: “The Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us”
Recorded on May 5, 2026, this video features a talk by Benjamin Recht, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley, focused on his book, The Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us. Professor Recht was joined in conversation by Marion Fourcade, Professor of Sociology and Director of […]
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
Recap
Published April 23, 2026
Incommunicable: Toward Communicative Justice in Health and Medicine
Watch the video (or listen to the podcast) of our Authors Meet Critics panel featuring the book "Incommunicable: Toward Communicative Justice in Health and Medicine," by Charles Briggs, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley. Professor Briggs was joined in conversation by Elinor Ochs and Eric Snoey, with Armando Lara-Millán moderating.
Learn More >Authors Meet Critics
Recap
Published April 23, 2026
The Insatiable Machine: How Capitalism Conquered the World
Watch the video (or listen to the podcast) of our Authors Meet Critics panel on the book "The Insatiable Machine: How Capitalism Conquered the World," by Trevor Jackson, Associate Professor of History at UC Berkeley. Professor Jackson was joined in conversation by Chenzi Xu and Dylan Riley, with Abhishek Kaicker moderating.
Learn More >Matrix On Point
Recap
Published April 23, 2026
Matrix on Point: The U.S. Dollar Hegemony in Transition
Recorded on April 8, 2026, this panel brought together scholars to examine the foundation of U.S. monetary influence and the role of financial innovation in an evolving global economy. The panel featured Barry Eichengreen, Rohan Kekre, and Chenzi Xu, with Brian Judge moderating.
Learn More >CRELS
Recap
Published April 1, 2026
Algorithms of Distinction: Class, Credit Scores, and Property in South Africa
Watch or listen to a lecture by Julien Migozzi, an economic geographer and Assistant Professor in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, examining how 21st-century class dynamics become connected with data-driven stratification systems, focusing on the digital transformation of property markets in South Africa.
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 >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."
Learn More >Matrix Lecture
Recap
Published December 16, 2025
Alexis Madrigal: “To Know A Place”
Recorded on December 4, 2025, this video features a Social Science Matrix Distinguished Lecture, “To Know a Place,” presented by journalist and author Alexis Madrigal. In this talk, Madrigal turns his attention to the question of how we come to know a place. Drawing on his background as a reporter, writer, and thinker of cities, landscapes, and histories, he explores different ways of writing about and understanding place, revealing how perspective, memory, and narrative inform the stories we tell about the world around us.
Learn More >CRELS
Recap
Published December 16, 2025
Maximilian Kasy: “The Means of Prediction: How AI Really Works (and Who Benefits)”
Recorded on December 2, 2025, this video features a talk by Maximilian Kasy, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford, presenting his book The Means of Prediction: How AI Really Works (and Who Benefits). In the book, Kasy clearly and accessibly explains the fundamental principles on which AI works, and, in doing so, reveals that the real conflict isn’t between humans and machines, but between those who control the machines and the rest of us.
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