Social Science

In this Scholar Spotlight we feature three former scholars: Michael Hanchard (Social Science), Jo Nelson (Mathematics), and Tracy Slatyer (Natural Sciences). They explain how and why the environment at IAS nourishes independent thinkers and prompts scholars to ask questions that push the boundaries of knowledge.

James D. Wolfensohn Professor Didier Fassin and past Distinguished Visiting Professor Axel Honneth (2018–19) are the editors of Crisis Under Critique: How People Assess, Transform, and Respond to Critical Situations.

For Frankfurter Allgemeine, Novina Göhlsdorf interviews James D. Wolfensohn Professor Didier Fassin about conspiracy theories and public health.

Pandemic Exposures: Economy and Society in the Time of Coronavirus, a collection of essays on the COVID-19 pandemic and its reverberations, edited by James D. Wolfensohn Professor Didier Fassin and Visiting Professor Marion Fourcade (2019-20), has been published by HAU Books and distributed by The University of Chicago Press. 

Sonja van Wichelen is focused on bioscience governance and global inequality—a particularly important topic to understand in the midst of a pandemic. She talks about her father’s inspiration and her hope for a more equitable society.

Zachariah Cherian Mampilly, a Member in the School of Social Science, studies violent and non-violent movements for political transformation, focusing on Africa and South Asia. Previously his work has focused on governance by armed groups and the...

Death of a Traveller: A Counter Investigation by Didier Fassin, James D. Wolfensohn Professor in the School of Social Science, was published on July 6, 2021, by Polity:

“It is a simple story. A 37-year-old man belonging to the Traveller community...

Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains (Finalist, National Book Awards 2021 for Nonfiction) by Lucas Bessire, past Member in the School of Social Science, was published by Princeton University Press on May 18, 2021:

“The Ogallala...

“I think an unaccompanied scholar, particularly a male, probably has the best of all possible worlds at the Institute.” 
—Social Science Member in the 1970s, male, age 50 at the moment of the questionnaire in 1976

Founded in 1930, the Institute...

Diana Graizbord, Member in the School of Social Science, is writing her first book "Indications of Democracy: Expertise and the Politics of Accountability," which examines how policy evaluation techniques have been adopted by the Mexican state and...