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.

Book Talk

REGISTER

Event Date: May 5th, 2026
4:00pm-5:15pm

The Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us

Join us on May 5 for a talk on "The Irrational Decision: How We Gave Computers the Power to Choose for Us," by Benjamin Recht, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley. The conversation will be moderated by Marion Fourcade, Professor of Sociology and Director of Social Science Matrix.

Learn More >

Democracy

News

Published December 1, 2018

Winner and Losers in the 2018 Midterm Elections

Recorded on November 15, this "post-mortem" panel featured a group of scholars—experts on Congress, public opinion, and voting behavior—discussing the outcomes of the 2018 midterm elections.

Learn More >

Matrix Lecture

Recap

Published November 28, 2018

The New Research Compact: Social Science Partnerships for the Common Good

In this Matrix Distinguished Lecture recorded on November 15, 2019, Alondra Nelson, President of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, discussed findings from a recent SSRC report and assessed the myriad challenges and threats facing social science research.

Learn More >

Sexuality

Published November 11, 2018

Getting the Facts on Sexual Violence & Sexual Harassment

Recorded on October 25 at UC Berkeley's Social Science Matrix, this panel discussion focused on the limits of what can be learned about sexual violence and harassment from personal narratives that are shared online, as well as the question of what is missed in survey data related to sexual violence.

Learn More >

Matrix News

News

Published August 21, 2018

Matrix Welcomes 2018-2019 Dissertation Fellows

Social Science Matrix is honored to welcome our 2018-2019 cohort of Matrix Dissertation Fellows, four Ph.D. candidates whose research interests span diverse global challenges such as urbanization, discrimination in the workforce, self-immolation, and indigenous language preservation.

Learn More >

Matrix News

News

Published June 24, 2018

Social Science Matrix Announces 2018-2019 Research Teams

The 2018-2019 Social Science Matrix Research Teams will address a range of important social-science questions, including sexual harassment and sexual violence, the social impacts of cannabis production, gender and technology, genetic ancestry testing, child marriage, and more.

Learn More >

Cities

Article

Published May 22, 2018

Urban Planning in China’s “Ecological Civilization”

Jesse Rodenbiker, a Ph.D. student in the UC Berkeley Department of Geography, studies the process of ecological planning in China's growing urban areas.

Learn More >