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Social Science Bites

Erica Chenoweth on Nonviolent Resistance

By Social Science Bites | Published: April 2, 2019

You and a body of like-minded people want to reform a wretched regime, or perhaps just break away from it and create an independent state....

Posted in Social Science Bites | Tagged Erica Chenoweth, Nonviolence, Resistance | Leave a comment

Gina Neff on Smart Devices

By Social Science Bites | Published: March 1, 2019

Gina Neff doesn’t approach smart devices as a Luddite or even that much of an alarmist; she bought first-generation Fitbit when they were brand new...

Posted in Social Science Bites | Tagged Digital Technology, Smartphones, Sociology, Technology, Tracking Devices | Leave a comment

Les Back on Migrants

By Social Science Bites | Published: February 1, 2019

Reflecting on his new book Migrant City, Goldsmiths sociologist Les Back tells interviewer David Edmonds in this Social Science Bites podcast, co-author and co-researcher Shamser...

Also posted in International Debate, Public Policy | Tagged Immigration, Les Back, London, Migrant City | 1 Response

David Halpern on Nudging

By Social Science Bites | Published: January 2, 2019

In this Social Science Bites podcast, experimental psychologist David Halpern, the British Nudge Unit's chief executive, offers interviewer David Edmonds a quick primer on nudging,...

Also posted in Public Policy | Tagged Behavioural Insights Team, Cass Sunstein, David Halpern, Nudge, Nudge Unit | Leave a comment

James Robinson on Why Nations Fail

By Social Science Bites | Published: December 3, 2018

Metrics on the average living standards from the best-off countries in the world (say, Norway) to the worst-off (such as the Central African Republic) vary...

Posted in Social Science Bites | Tagged Inclusiveness, Inequality, Institutions, James Robinson | Leave a comment

Nick Adams on Textual Analysis

By Social Science Bites | Published: November 1, 2018

Fake news, whether truly phony or merely unpalatable, has become an inescapable trope for modern media consumers. But apart from its propagandist provenance, misinformation and...

Also posted in Public Policy | Tagged Fake News, Nick Adams, Public Editor, Tag Works, Textual Analysis | Leave a comment

Andrew Leigh on Randomistas

By Social Science Bites | Published: October 1, 2018

When Angus Deaton crafted the term 'randomista' to denigrate the rampant use of randomized controlled trials in development economics, Angus Leigh saw an opportunity to...

Also posted in Public Policy, Research | Tagged Andrew Leigh, Angus Deaton, Randomised Controlled Trial, Randomista | Leave a comment

Diane Reay on Education and Class

By Social Science Bites | Published: September 4, 2018

One thing has become clear to sociologist Diane Reay across her research - “It’s primarily working-class children who turn out to be losers in the...

Also posted in Impact, International Debate | Tagged Class, Education, Inequality, Sociology | Leave a comment

Mahzarin Banaji on Implicit Bias

By Social Science Bites | Published: August 2, 2018

“The brain is an association-seeking machine,” Harvard social psychologist Mahzarin R. Banaji tells interviewer David Edmonds in this Social Science Bites podcast. “It puts things...

Also posted in Impact | Tagged Bias, Implicit Bias, Mahzarin Banaji, Social Psychology | 1 Response

Richard Wilkinson on How Inequality is Bad

By Social Science Bites | Published: July 3, 2018

In this Social Science Bites podcast, social epidemiologist Richard Wilkinson lays out the case that inequality should be fought specifically because it fosters a litany...

Also posted in Public Policy | Tagged Equality, Inequality, Kate Pickett, Richard Wilkinson | Leave a comment

Celia Heyes on Cognitive Gadgets

By Social Science Bites | Published: June 1, 2018

How did humans diverge so markedly from animals? Apart from physical things like our “physical peculiarities,” as experimental psychologist Celia Heyes puts it, or our...

Posted in Social Science Bites | Tagged Celia Heyes, Cognition, Cognitive Gadgets, evolution, evolutionary psychology | Leave a comment

Alison Liebling on Successful Prisons

By Social Science Bites | Published: May 1, 2018

In determining what makes a successful prison, where would you place ‘trust’? Alison Liebling, director of the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology’s Prisons Research Centre,...

Posted in Social Science Bites | Tagged Alison Liebling, Corrections, Criminology, Prisons | 2 Responses

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Social Science Bites
- Erica Chenoweth on Nonviolent Resistance April 2, 2019 Social Science Bites
- Gina Neff on Smart Devices March 1, 2019 Social Science Bites
- Les Back on Migrants February 1, 2019 Social Science Bites
- David Halpern on Nudging January 2, 2019 Social Science Bites

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