School of Social Science

By Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science:

"'A conqueror,' wrote the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, 'is always a lover of peace. He would like to make his entry into our state unopposed; in order to prevent this, we must choose to fight.' The crime of aggression is to force men and women to make that choice."

"The Ogallala aquifer, one of the earth’s largest, extends from South Dakota to Texas and, today, supports one-sixth of the world’s grain production, even as it is quickly being drained to the point of collapse. Lucas Bessire’s Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains, which was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Award, is a story about the politics and livelihoods that have sustained this extraction."

Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor, has been elected to the newest class of Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a lifetime honor and one of the most laudable distinctions in the scientific community.

By Minou Arjomand, current Visitor in the School of Social Science:

"On the last day of 1930, the pope promulgated the Casti Connubii encyclical which forbade Catholics from using contraceptives and reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s stance against abortion. Then, in February 1931, two doctors, Friedrich Wolf and Else Kienle, along with 300 of their patients, were charged with violating the abortion ban."

[Updated June 4] Click here to watch the commencement speech given at the City College of New York's commencement.

Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the City...

Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study and President of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), has been appointed by President-elect Joe Biden to the position of Deputy...

By Kristen R. Ghodsee, Member (2006–07) in the School of Social Science:

"For Dyson, the mysteries of human behavior were just as deep and enduring as the mysteries of the universe. In the sheer breadth of his interests, Dyson embodied the ideal of...

Donald Light, Visitor in the School of Social Science, asks in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
"The British Medical Journal wrote last month that 'none of the [Covid] vaccine trials are designed to detect significant reduction in hospital admissions, admission to intensive care, or death.' Can these vaccines stop the pandemic?"