How can founder legacy shape an arts organization long after a transition in leadership? A study of the Chicago Sinfonietta examines how founder Paul Freeman’s vision to elevate Black composers continues to guide the orchestra today. https://bit.ly/4aLBi0N
SSRC’s @measureofamerica.bsky.social program recently launched their “A Portrait of Los Angeles County 2026” report, captured on video by @lacdmh.bsky.social. Watch here and learn about measuring wellbeing in LA County: www.youtube.com/watch?v=x27s...
Are you a researcher or policymaker working on housing, energy, or transportation issues?
Welcome to the BUILD Research Network! A project of
@ssrc.org w/ support from @arnoldventures.bsky.social, BUILD is a new platform for strengthening the research-to-policy pipeline.
build.ssrc.org
🧵/9
Register for free: tickets.newmuseum.org/orders/177/t...
On April 16th, SSRC’s Just Tech and NEW INC will host a public conversation exploring how artists engage artificial intelligence, featuring Just Tech Fellows @elegantcollisions.bsky.social, @drs.bsky.social, and Lauren Lee McCarthy in conversation with X.A. Li and @nabiha.bsky.social.
![Social scientists routinely characterize religious influence in electoral politics as conservative and left-wing parties as fundamentally secular. Against these claims, I argue that the relationship between religion and electoral politics is shaped by the redistributive beliefs and preferences of religious leaders, who can become valuable allies of left-wing parties. I evaluate this argument in Brazil following the appointment of Pope John Paul II, leveraging as-if random variation in municipalities’ exposure to progressive Catholic bishops. I show that bishops who actively supported state-led redistribution were essential to the electoral success of the left-wing Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores [PT]). Voters in municipalities with longer exposure to these bishops supported the PT at higher rates. (continued at link)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wkn6xyybwo66kqni5ddxzjwj/bafkreideiufzwcijqq3lbmpt56nfz6k5smouy2daeikapxc47ngd7s4awq)
Social scientists routinely characterize religious influence in electoral politics as conservative and left-wing parties as fundamentally secular. Against these claims, I argue that the relationship between religion and electoral politics is shaped by the redistributive beliefs and preferences of religious leaders, who can become valuable allies of left-wing parties. I evaluate this argument in Brazil following the appointment of Pope John Paul II, leveraging as-if random variation in municipalities’ exposure to progressive Catholic bishops. I show that bishops who actively supported state-led redistribution were essential to the electoral success of the left-wing Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores [PT]). Voters in municipalities with longer exposure to these bishops supported the PT at higher rates. (continued at link)
In @apsrjournal.bsky.social, a study by Guadalupe Tuñón examining bishops who supported state-led redistribution argues that the relationship between religion and electoral politics is shaped by the beliefs and preferences of religious leaders.
“How long a Los Angeles County resident lives can depend on where they live in the area, and the gap between the county’s richest and poorest communities has gotten wider over the past decade.”
Read more about @measureofamerica.bsky.social's new report on @laist.com:
laist.com/news/health/...
For SSRC's Just Tech, @beeeeeers.bsky.social examines how disinformation campaigns can uniquely affect algorithmically generated summaries, shown through a case study of anti-transgender disinformation campaigns in the United States.
just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/ant...
I’ll Samba Someplace Else: A Spatial History of Race, Ethnicity, and Displacement in São Paulo, by @andrewgbritt.bsky.social, a historian and 2016 IDRF fellow, will be published by @dukepress.bsky.social this month.
Learn more: dukeupress.edu/ill-samba-so...
On 4/16, SSRC’s Just Tech program and NEW INC will host “From Studio to Study: Artistic Research on AI and Society,” a public conversation exploring how artists engage artificial intelligence through experimentation, performance, and design. Register now:
tickets.newmuseum.org/orders/177/t...
As development of robots and AI continues, some researchers study how to make human-robot interactions more natural, while considering the social implications.
Read this conversation between Just Tech fellows Odest Chadwicke Jenkins and Jay Cunningham: just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/und...
The SSRC’s MOU with @fondationmsh.bsky.social affirms our shared values as aligned institutions committed to fostering the global production of knowledge and social science research. www.fmsh.fr/en/news/fmsh...
Our March edition of Items & Issues newsletter is out—this month we highlight social science research that illuminates how religion intersects with nationalism, race, international policy, the public sphere, and more.
Read featured pieces and sign up for the monthly newsletter: items.ssrc.org
The Immanent Frame, published by the @ssrc.org , has long served as a central site for debate, discussion, and analysis of the role of religion in public life.
Read this letter from our editors on the website redesign "Reintroducing the Immanent Frame."
tif.ssrc.org/2026/03/18/r...
Since 2007, @immanentframe.bsky.social has served as a central node for vibrant analysis of the role of religion in public life. We’re thrilled to share a refreshed version of the TIF website, marking a new chapter and enhancing the visibility of TIF’s scholarly work:
tif.ssrc.org
SSRC’s BUILD Research Network program seeks proposals from researchers to conduct case studies during summer 2026 on state legislative sessions that passed bills on housing production. Learn more and apply by March 30:
www.ssrc.org/programs/bui...
Last week, a bipartisan group of senators passed a bill aimed at improving housing affordability. State governments have also been experimenting with policies intended to encourage housing production for the past several years.
www.cnn.com/2026/03/12/b...
And a 2010 interview between Eduardo Mendieta and Habermas explored the relationship between social theory and secularization theory in Habermas’ 2008 lectures: tif.ssrc.org/2010/02/03/a...
A 2016 article by Alex Holznienkemper returned to the 2009 Habermas–Taylor exchange, examining their divergences on language, translation, and the role of religion in public discourse: tif.ssrc.org/2016/10/03/a...
This 2009 discussion featured Habermas and Charles Taylor in conversation about the place of religion in the public sphere, and differences between religious and secular reasons: tif.ssrc.org/2009/11/20/rethinking-secularism-jurgen-habermas-and-charles-taylor-in-conversation/
The SSRC mourns the loss of philosopher and social theorist Jürgen Habermas (1929–2026). Read on to revisit some of Habermas’ contributions to SSRC’s work on religion and the public sphere @immanentframe.bsky.social.
Medicaid for Pregnant Women is an important safety net program that covers nearly half of all births in Texas, the second most populous state in the United States. This article explores the bureaucratic mechanisms of exclusion from coverage under Medicaid for Pregnant Women for Latinas in the Texas–Mexico border region. It gives particular attention to exclusion during the COVID-19 public health emergency, when federal policy prevented states from disenrolling Medicaid recipients. Ethnographic work conducted during the first 2 years of the pandemic shows how bureaucratic procedures tied to using publicly funded programs may undermine the potential for these programs to remedy social inequities. The bureaucratic exclusion that may result constitutes reproductive violence, given that the inaccessibility of health services can contribute to adverse reproductive health outcomes and undermine a person's ability to manage their reproductive lives with dignity. While the focus is on Medicaid policies, this analysis is relevant for understanding how bureaucracy has the potential to wield power in ways that perpetuate various manifestations of violence within society.
In @americananthro.bsky.social, @carinaheckert.bsky.social explores the exclusion of Latinas in the Texas–Mexico region from coverage under Medicaid for Pregnant Women, a safety net program that covers nearly half of all births in Texas.
anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
MEASURE OF AMERICA of the Social Science Research Council A PORTRAIT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY 2026 TOWARD AN EQUITABLE FUTURE FOR ALL ANGELENOS Authors: Kristen Lewis Alex Powers RESEARCHERS: Kate Harvey Tara Shawa SPECIAL ADVISOR: Bill Pitkin WITH FOREWORD BY Lisa H. Wong, Psy.D. Director, Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
A Portrait of LA County 2026 is now live from the SSRC's @measureofamerica.bsky.social program.
Dive into the report to see how different demographic groups and LA communities are doing when it comes to health, education, and living standards: measureofamerica.org/los-angeles-...
How have the internet and its technologies shifted from the “home page” to the endless scroll?
Read an illuminating excerpt from Just Tech fellow Catherine Knight Steele's (@steelecat717.bsky.social) new book, Technoskepticism (Stanford University Press): just-tech.ssrc.org/articles/liv...
The Bracero Program (1942–64), a bilateral agreement to regulate labor migration between the United States and Mexico, oversaw more than four million contracts enabling Mexican men to work “temporarily” in the United States. Historians of the Mexico-US borderlands and of global migration have interpreted the program through hemispheric as well as broader imperial lenses. Yet this article shows that the program’s foundational ideas emerged from two decades of transatlantic exchange and circulation that cannot be contained within a single continent, nor a single framework such as imperialism. During the interwar period, Mexican politicians, intellectuals, and migrant labor activists eagerly participated in transatlantic and inter-American dialogues about migration policy, compared themselves to Italy, and admired the bilateral labor migration agreements that had recently emerged in Europe. Meanwhile, US officials heard but resisted pleas from migration scholars and the International Labor Organization to emulate European receiving countries. The two parties’ differing engagements with European migration policies meant that when World War II pushed US officials to suddenly propose the agreement, Mexican actors’ transatlantic knowledge inspired their participation and crucially shaped the program’s design. This article thus pushes historians of migration policy towards studies of not just comparison but also entanglement.
In American Historical Review, Julie M. Weise and Christoph Rass explore the inter-American origins of the Bracero Program (1942–64), a bilateral agreement to regulate labor migration between the United States and Mexico.
academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...
Today at 8pm EST, the 2026 Abe Global Forum will host a discussion on legislative transparency and the future of governance in Asia. Learn more and RSVP here: www.ssrc.org/events/guard...
In “Karma as Active Resistance,” originally published in SSRC’s @immanentframe.bsky.social, Jin Y. Park argues that karma is an exercise of agency that fuels Buddhist social engagement. @tricyclemag.bsky.social features this piece in its Spring 2026 issue. Read more: tricycle.org/article/karm...
SSRC's BUILD Research Network seeks proposals from researchers for high-quality case studies on state legislative sessions that passed bills intended to legalize or encourage housing production. The application deadline is March 30, 2026.
www.ssrc.org/programs/bui...
