Ideas

Explore firsthand accounts of research and questions posed by IAS scientists and scholars. From art history to string theory, from moral anthropology to the long-term fate of the universe, contributions span the last decade to the research of today.

Social Science

Q&A with Zachariah C. Mampilly

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...

Social Science

Death of a Traveller: A Counter Investigation

A book by Didier Fassin

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...

Social Science

Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains

A book by Lucas Bessire

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...

Social Science

The Three Moral Hazards of Health Insurance

By Donald W Light

Spring 2021

The current pandemic intensifies the need for universal health insurance, but it raises, in some quarters, the specter of “moral hazard.” This term, with its troubling history, is taken to refer to incentives for patients to overuse healthcare...

Social Science

Scholar Spotlight: Sarah E. Vaughn

Social Science Member Sarah E. Vaughn discusses her research on climate change in the Caribbean, particularly how to think about climate adaptation not just from a national perspective, but from a regional perspective.

Social Science

Democracy's Big Secret

By Michael Hanchard

Fall 2020

I am very happy to be back, albeit in virtual space, at the Institute. I completed my entire manuscript for The Spectre of Race: How Discrimination Haunts Western Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2018) at IAS, and have great memories of...

Social Science

Q&A with Diana Graizbord

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...

Social Science

On the Judgment of History

A book by Joan Wallach Scott

On the Judgment of History by Joan Wallach Scott, Professor Emerita in the School of Social Science, was published September 2020 by Columbia University Press:

“In the face of conflict and despair, we often console ourselves by saying that history...

Social Science

Social Stratification in the Age of Covid

Marion Fourcade is Visiting Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study. A professor at the University of California, Berkeley, she is studying new forms of social stratification...

Social Science

An Unprecedented Health Crisis

Didier Fassin is James D. Wolfensohn Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study. An anthropologist and sociologist, he was trained as a physician in internal medicine and public...