Social Sciences Division

During this time of uncertainty and isolation, find solace in digital opportunities to connect, share, and engage. Each week, we will share upcoming events that bring the UW, and the greater community, together online. 

Asia Jones started a Facebook group to expose racist people and businesses. Members of her group have helped to get dozens of people fired from their jobs. Ralina Joseph, professor of communication at the UW, is interviewed.

While other nations invest in developing poor areas, Beijing doesn’t hesitate to operate on a more ambitious scale by moving communities, like the Yi ethnic minority, and building new towns in its effort to modernize China. Stevan Harrell, professor emeritus of anthropology at the UW, is quoted.

The 2020 Population Health Applied Research Fellows concluded their 10-week program to produce small area population forecasts at the Census tract and Health Reporting Area levels by sex, race, ethnicity and five-year age groups for King County from 2020 to 2045.

"In June, manufacturers of skin lighteners joined other corporations in voicing support for the racial justice movement. Critics quickly pointed out the hypocrisy of voicing such support in the U.S. while continuing to sell skin whitening products globally. Such products, they say, play off of and promote racism and colorism (which is prejudice based on preference for people with lighter skin tones) in Asia and Africa," writes Lynn Thomas, professor of history at the UW.

Strategists on opposites sides of the political aisle co-teach a course on political campaigns.Good thing they're close friends. 

Scott Lemieux, political science lecturer, explains the implications of when governance norms are broken.

"As I write, my city has been invaded. It is the month when Seattle weather normally gleams with clarity, yet my throat burns and the trees at the end of the block are being dissolved by a Martian haze. Across the street, my neighbor’s house appears as if in a grainy sepia photograph. I can only think that the atmosphere has materialized for us what an excess of carbon really feels like," writes Scott Montgomery, lecturer of international studies at the UW.

"A recent survey of presidential deception found that all American presidents – from Washington to Trump – have told lies, knowingly, in their public statements. As a political philosopher, with a focus on how people try to reason together through political disagreement, I argue that not all lies are the same," writes Michael Blake, professor of philosophy and of public policy and governance at the UW.

"One of us is a political scientist at the University of Washington, and the other is a former elections commissioner who now studies voting laws. We can explain why voter fraud is so rare – especially for mail-in ballots," write Jake Grumbach, assistant professor of political science at the UW, and Charlotte Hill, of the University of California Berkeley.

Megan Ming Francis, University of Washington associate professor of political science, has been named one of 12 grant-supported “Freedom Scholars” in a new $3 million initiative by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Group Health Foundation, working together. Scholars are recognized for work “shifting the balance of power to families and communities that have been historically excluded from the resources and benefits of society.”

A 6,600-word internal memo from a fired Facebook data scientist details how the social network knew leaders of countries around the world were using their site to manipulate voters — and failed to act. Katy Pearce, associate professor of communication at the UW, is quoted.

Statistics and Sociology Professor Adrian Raftery is lead author on a guide to understanding COVID-19 data, for those making public health decisions.

Washington and Oregon rarely feature in presidential races. But as demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism have continued across the country, the Pacific Northwest — the site of some of the country’s largest and most persistent protests — has taken on a narrative role in the national campaign even as it remains an electoral backwater. Jacob Grumbach, assistant professor of political science at the UW, is quoted.

"How a society handles disasters says a lot about its resilience, character and governance capacities. Disasters can foster paranoia or encourage solidarity. They can bring the country together or tear it apart," write Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs at the UW, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW.