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.

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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.

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Matrix Lecture

Recap

Published March 1, 2023

Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar: Reimagining Global Integration

Recorded on February 15, 2023, this Matrix Distinguished Lecture featured Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, presenting a talk entitled "Reimagining Global Integration." A former justice of the Supreme Court of California, Justice Cuéllar served two U.S. presidents at the White House and in federal agencies, and was a faculty member at Stanford University for two decades. Watch a video of the lecture — or listen to the recording.

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Lecture

Recap

Published February 18, 2023

Citrin Award Lecture: “Does Political Propaganda Work,” Donald P. Green

Recorded on February 10, 2023, this video features the 2022 Citrin Award Lecture, presented by Donald P. Green, J.W. Burgess Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. Professor Green's lecture, "Does Political Propaganda Work?", was presented by the Jack Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research at UC Berkeley.

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Podcast

Interview

Published February 14, 2023

The Scandal of Access: An Interview with Zahra Hayat

Listen to an episode of the Matrix Podcast featuring Zahra Hayat, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, who obtained her PhD in Anthropology at UC Berkeley. Matrix Content Curator Julia Sizek spoke with Hayat about her research on pharmaceutical access in the global South, particularly in Pakistan, and the regimes of price and property on which such access is contingent.

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Affiliated Centers

News

Published February 9, 2023

Economy and Society Initiative to Launch at UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley is launching a new research center dedicated to political economy, a cross-disciplinary field focused on the interplay of markets and government. Funded through a generous seed grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative (BESI) will be housed within the UC Berkeley College of Letters & Science, and will be supported by Social Science Matrix.

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Authors Meet Critics

Recap

Published February 9, 2023

Dylan Riley, “Microverses: Observations from a Shattered Present”

Watch the video (or listen to the podcast version) of our Authors Meet Critics panel on "Microverses: Observations from a Shattered Present," a book by Dylan Riley, Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley. Professor Riley was joined by Professors Colleen Lye and and Donna Jones from the UC Berkeley Department of English.

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Alumni Interview

Podcast

Published December 6, 2022

Alumni Interview: Adriana Kugler, World Bank Executive Director for the US

This episode of the Matrix Podcast features an interview with Adriana D. Kugler, the World Bank Group Executive Director for the United States, who graduated with a PhD from the Department of Economics in 1997. Professor Danny Yagan conducted the interview.

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