Social Science Space

Images tap into attitudes, but not always in the same way for every viewer. An image’s perceived level of influence is based on “believability.” This is the idea that it is true if we agree, fake if we disagree. And it is here that the power of images intersects with the great challenge of the digital age. How do we understand politics, fake news, campaigning, and citizenship in an area dominated by images?

David Canter considers the impact of changing ways in which politics is communicated. In the age of the internet direct encouragement of what the audience is to feel, rather than detailed exposition of policy and achievements, is the order of the day.

Margaret Levi, the director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, today received one of the most prestigious awards in the social sciences, the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science.

According to the Gallup polling firm, writes Christopher Devine, the identity that people choose most often is actually “independent” – not Democratic or Republican. In 2017, 42 percent of Americans chose this label – up from the low 30s just 14 years ago, in 2004. However, three-quarters of these “independents” admit, when asked, that they lean toward favoring the Democratic or Republican Party.

Political scientist and journalist Angelo Falcón, who brought a focus on Latino and specifically Puerto Rican political issues to the forefront of the academy through organizations like the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy and scholarly projects like the Latino National Political Survey, died on May 24.

In the videos below, a trio of media professionals along with the former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, offer their savvy takes on these questions and more.

An award that honors enduring contribution from a political science text this year has gone to ‘ Politics in the American States.’

Anthony King, a political scientist whose career ranged from the most serious of scholarship to popular explanation on the BBC, has died at 82.

I was wrong, admits political scientist Bryan Cranston, who points out that he wa’s hardly alone among those who professions had them making predictions about the US presidential election. But why were so many wrong?

How can we create reliable and replicable political science data? A recent article in the ‘American Political Science Review’ focuses on text analysis and suggests ways to make these data sound and reproducible.

What role should social scientists play in society? Louisa Hotson here explores the evolution of the social sciences through four periods in the history of political science in the United States, each with different implications for how social science makes a difference.

What are the new challenges facing political science research at the beginning of the 21st century? Political Science in Motion, edited by Ramona Coman and Jean-Frédéric Morin, explores this question through a collection of essays that traces the major trends in contemporary political science research since the end of the Cold War.