On September 16, 2016, Social Science Matrix hosted Cathy O'Neil, author of Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. In her book (and presentation), O'Neil—a Harvard-trained mathematician and former hedge fund data analyst—discusses how many of the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. The problem, she explains, is that they are often WMDs—widespread, mysterious, and destructive—making them "Weapons of Math Destruction."

Social Science Matrix is honored to welcome our inaugural group of Matrix Dissertation Fellows, five Ph.D. students whose research has strong potential to generate effective solutions to critical global challenges.

The capability to democratically distribute tasks within a directed project presents novel possibilities for researchers—and social scientists at UC Berkeley are taking advantage.

Professor Juana María Rodríguez, from UC Berkeley's Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, suggests that scholars in the field of Queer Studies would benefit from a turn to statistics as a lens into bisexuality and other identities.

The linguistic phenomenon known as “upspeak” has long been linked to a broader pattern of gender relations, thanks to the work of UC Berkeley’s Robin T. Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics.

For India’s growing middle class, recycling is as much about creating identity as being environmentally conscientious.

In Bolivia, conflicting interests have led to complicated internal struggles over rights, land, and money, says a postdoctoral fellow in UC Berkeley's Department of Geography.

A UC Berkeley research center advances mixed-methods research on development, envisions public policy solutions, and advocates for sustainable changes to the governance of developing communities.