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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Authors Meet Critics

Recap

Published December 1, 2022

Authors Meet Critics: How the Clinic Made Gender

Watch a video (or listen to a podcast) of our recent “Authors Meet Critics” panel on "How the Clinic Made Gender: The Medical History of a Transformative Idea," by Sandra Eder, Associate Professor of History at UC Berkeley. Eder was joined in conversation by Laura Nelson, Danya Lagos, and Catherine Ceniza Choy.

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Matrix On Point

Recap

Published November 10, 2022

Matrix on Point: The Court and the People

On October 20, Social Science Matrix hosted a "Matrix on Point" panel featuring UC Berkeley experts discussing what the conservative turn in the Supreme Court means for the relationship between the Court and the people. Panelists included Erwin Chemerinsky, Thomas Biolsi, and Khiara M. Bridges, with Ronit Stahl, moderating.

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Matrix News

Matrix Communications Scholars

Published November 7, 2022

Inaugural Cohort of Matrix Communications Scholars Announced

Social Science Matrix is proud to announce our inaugural cohort of Matrix Communications Scholars, a group of six PhD students or candidates who will create podcasts, written interviews, or other features while developing social science communication skills throughout the year. The Scholars are Jennie Barker, a PhD candidate in Political Science; J.T. Jamieson, a PhD candidate in History; Aidan Lee, a PhD student in History; Daniel Lobo, a PhD student in Sociology; Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya, a PhD student in Sociology; and Tiffany Taylor, a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology.

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Authors Meet Critics

Recap

Published November 3, 2022

Voices in the Code: A Story About People, Their Values, and the Algorithm They Made

 Recorded on October 10, 2022, this “Authors Meet Critics” panel focused on the book Voices in the Code: A Story About People, Their Values, and the Algorithm They Made, by David Robinson, a visiting scholar at Social Science Matrix and a member of the faculty at Apple University. Robinson was joined in conversation by […]

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Authors Meet Critics

Recap

Published November 3, 2022

Keeping It Unreal: Black Queer Fantasy and Superhero Comics

Recorded on October 14, 2022, this Authors Meet Critics panel focused on the book "Keeping It Unreal: Black Queer Fantasy and Superhero Comics," by Darieck Scott, Professor of African American Studies at UC Berkeley. Scott was joined in conversation by Ula Taylor and Scott Bukatman, with Greg Niemeyer moderating.

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Podcast

Interview

Published October 25, 2022

Migration and Reform in Early America: An Interview with J.T. Jamieson

What role did American social and moral reformers play in managing human migrations? Listen to (or read) our Matrix Podcast interview with J.T. Jamieson, a PhD Candidate in UC Berkeley’s History Department, who examines how social reformers in the first half of the 19th century sought to control migration and insert their own understandings of morality, social benevolence, and humanitarianism into the lives and experiences of migrants.

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