School of Social Science
Founded in 1973, the School of Social Science is dedicated to interpretive, theoretical, and empirical approaches to social research, pursued from multidisciplinary, multi-method, and international perspectives.
Each year the School invites approximately twenty scholars working on a range of topics to develop their individual research within a rich context of intellectual discussion and exchange. Scholars are drawn from across the fields of social science and related disciplines.
A weekly School seminar hosts work-in-progress presentations and there are informal venues for sharing work and ideas throughout the academic year. The School also convenes an annual theme seminar, for which about half of the each year's scholar cohort are selected during the application process; the other half of the scholars work on projects outside the theme and do not participate in the theme seminar.
The theme for 2026-27 is "Emerging Forces in Global Political Economy." For 2027-28, the theme is "Understanding AI." An archive of past themes is available.
Call for Applications for 2027-28
Notable from the School
Alondra Nelson and former Member Lindsey D. Cameron in Science: "The wrong platform for science"
Alondra Nelson and Jenny Reardon on science and democracy in Boston Review: "The Standing the Public Deserves"
Wendy Brown Receives the 2026 Benjamin E. Lippincott Award for States of Injury: Power and Freedom in Late Modernity
Members David Knight and Elizabeth Chiarello recognized by the American Sociological Association
Former Member Shatema Threadcraft has received the Victoria Schuck Award and the Ralph J. Bunche Award from the American Political Science Association for The Labors of Resurrection
Members edited and contributed to Limn 14: This Is Not a Platform, collaborative work emerging from the PLATFORM theme seminar
Former Member Lila Abu-Lughod elected a Fellow of British Academy
Alondra Nelson selected as one of the "100 Women in AI"
Alondra Nelson in Daedalus on "Field Theory: AI as Social Science Question, Object & Tool"
Conference in Honor of Didier Fassin
Incoming Member Dina Okamoto elected Vice President of the American Sociological Association
Member M.J. Crockett on "Making Automation Work for Social Scientists" in Daedalus
Alondra Nelson in Science: "A civic grammar for AI rights"
Member Corey Robin on Capitalism's Long Revolution in The Nation
"The civil-rights activists planned to change the world, not just the country," writes past Member Keisha Blain in The Economist
Past Members Sophia Rosenfeld and Paul Starr elected to American Philosophical Society
Former Member Martin Gilens elected to the National Academy of Sciences
Former Members Anna Tsing, George Marcus, Michael Brown, and Chantal Mouffe elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Member Molly J. Crockett Receives 2026 Troland Research Award from National Academy of Sciences
Member Shobita Parthasarathy in Science: "'Sacrifice subjects' and a proposal for people-first technology regulation"
Digital (In)Equality Collaborative Theme Seminar featured in The Institute Letter