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 August 4, 2014

Playing with Kids Pays Off Economically

A groundbreaking study by UC Berkeley researchers shows that playing with children has a profound impact on their future incomes.  

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Research Highlights

Article

Published August 4, 2014

The Happy App

Tchiki Davis, a Berkeley social psychology Ph.D. candidate, is building an app to boost happiness.

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Interview

Published August 1, 2014

Reconstructing Disaster

UC Berkeley graduate student Siri Colom researches how politics shaped the reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

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Research Highlights

Article

Published August 1, 2014

If Then What?

A Social Science Matrix seminar is examining the creeping presence of algorithms in modern society.

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Research Highlights

Article

Published August 1, 2014

Seeking New Models for Clinical Medicine

A new Social Science Matrix seminar is focused on finding radical new approaches to clinical health care.

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Research Highlights

Article

Published August 1, 2014

Waging War on Inequality

Minimum wage increases in cities have significant benefits and fewer costs than expected, according to a team of UC Berkeley economists.

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