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: April 7th, 2026
12:00 PM to 1:30 PM PT

Trevor Jackson: “The Insatiable Machine: How Capitalism Conquered the World”

Join us for a panel on "The Insatiable Machine," by Professor Trevor Jackson, which traces capitalism’s development from the accidental construction of an international monetary system to the creation of banking, the emergence of a new form of slavery, fossil–fuel industrialization, and finally the global capitalist system spread by imperialism.

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Research Highlights

Article

Published December 17, 2014

Africa’s AIDS Industry

Efforts to prevent the spread of AIDS in Africa tend to follow the same script, even though the methods are largely ineffective, according to a paper co-authored by a UC Berkeley sociologist.

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Research Highlights

Article

Published December 9, 2014

A New World of Mapping

UC Berkeley cartographer Darin Jensen is exploring novel ways to detail information about the world around us.

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Research Highlights

Article

Published December 8, 2014

From Oil to Soil

Research by UC Berkeley geographer Adam Romero exposes how the toxic byproducts of petroleum have transformed agricultural production in California and around the world.

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Research Highlights

Article

Published December 7, 2014

Solving the Mysteries of Brain Waves

In laboratories across the UC Berkeley campus, researchers are unlocking some of the mysteries surrounding "neural rhythms," the pulses, bursts, and waves of electricity that continually surge through our brains.

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Research Highlights

Article

Published November 30, 2014

Flying Forward

Investing in airports and other transportation infrastructure is a major driver of economic growth, according to new research by a UC Berkeley economics graduate student.

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Research Highlights

Article

Published November 16, 2014

Economic Impacts of Climate Change

Climate change threatens certain U.S. regions and populations more than others, according to recent study led by UC Berkeley economist and professor of public policy, Solomon Hsiang.

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