Social Studies

During the past 10,000 years—the Holocene—human societies became larger and ever more complex. An international team of scientists led by Peter Turchin from the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH) set out to test various theories on what drove this process. According to its analyses of data from Seshat: Global History... Read more

Mass shootings are a source of shared anguish and outrage among Americans and are becoming more frequent. Extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs), also known as gun violence restraining orders or "red flag" laws, are designed to help prevent these shootings. Below, UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) experts explain... Read more

A recent study out of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH) found that companies with female board members tend to perform better. The analysis examined the relationship between female board appointments and corporations' financial performance, based on data from about 4.000 Japanese firms collected between 2004 and 2013.... Read more

Consumer sentiment continued its downward trend, falling 14.4% in June, according to the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers.... Read more

Humans have evolved as social animals. From childhood, we are taught the benefits of forging ties and being empathetic as a strategy for survival and mental well-being—or at least that is the ideal.... Read more

Climate change influences the likelihood and duration of armed conflicts in Africa. This is the finding of a study carried out by a team from the INGENIO Institute, a joint center of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), together with the University... Read more

EPFL scientists have produced a series of maps showing historical migration events, including the migration of mountain farmers native to Upper Valais who began to settle in German-speaking Switzerland in the 13th century, by applying methods from population genetics—but using linguistic data rather than genes.... Read more

Social media offers Black African young people in Australia safe spaces to engage in positive expressions of their Afro-blackness, according to a new study led by Southern Cross University and published in the Australian Journal of Social Issues.... Read more

Human anti-trafficking campaigns rely on the "three p's" of prevention, protection and prosecution.... Read more

The ability of team members to work together across a range of tasks, called collective intelligence (CI), varies significantly between teams. Research suggests that the level of collective attention (the quality and coordination of members' focus) a team develops influences its level of CI. A new study examined what factors... Read more

Intimate partner violence (IPV) can have significant implications for the well-being of mothers and children during separation and divorce. Yet IPV is often not included in custody cases or factored into court decisions, a new University of Illinois study shows.... Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide the fate of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established the nationwide right to choose an abortion. If the court's decision hews close to the leaked draft opinion first published by Politico in May 2022, the court's new conservative majority will... Read more

After the recent shooting in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers, some local residents want the school demolished. Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez said that President Joe Biden has offered to help the school district secure a federal grant for... Read more

The defaults on a carbon offsetting website can cause a large percentage of customers to select faster CO2 compensation, even if this entails higher costs. In cooperation with a web portal offering carbon offsetting, a research team at the University of Bern with the participation of Professor Dr. Axel Ockenfels... Read more

The United States has struggled with a spate of horrific mass shootings. As is often the case, people try to make sense of the violence by talking about what happened.... Read more