For those curious to know what goes on at the Center, here is a sampling of work by just a few of our Fellows, and the larger impact this work has had on contemporary society.

ON THIS PAGE:
HOW DOES NEW KNOWLEDGE EMERGE? >>
HOW CAN WE PROMOTE RACIAL JUSTICE IN OUR CLASSROOMS AND SOCIETY? >>
HOW CAN WE PREVENT FUTURE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISES? >>


How does new knowledge emerge?
In the modern age, the social sciences have an ever-growing role to play, providing a framework for policymaking on everything from climate change and healthcare to education and energy. But how is reliable knowledge about the world created? That’s a question the center has probed since its founding. And in 1959, Thomas S. Kuhn, a respected scholar with degrees in physics, took a radical approach to the answer: What if new knowledge builds not in linear, evolutionary fashion but through periodic revolutions?

Inspired by other fellows, Kuhn (1958-59) developed the concept of paradigm shifts in science, advanced in his landmark book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). Today, Kuhn’s work provides inspiration for contemporary fellows — including award-winning sociologist Steven Epstein (2008-09) and Stanford history scholar Paula Findlen (2007-08) — exploring the history, philosophy, and sociology of science — in other words, the science of science. Among their challenges: Deepening our understanding of how knowledge is produced by developing a new science dedicated to exploring how knowledge is used.

How can we promote racial justice in our classrooms
and our society?
Since its founding, the center has enabled more than 40 fellows to probe attitudes around race and ethnicity. Examining everything from slavery and the Civil War to civil rights and poverty, their work has undergirded our progress toward an elusive goal: a more fair and inclusive society.

Harvard Professor William Julius Wilson (1981-82), is just one contemporary scholar continuing this important work. A respected sociologist, Wilson’s research encompasses race, class, and urban poverty. Through such books as The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy, which he worked on at the center, Wilson has shed new light on the growth of concentrated urban poverty.

At the center, Wilson found creative sanctuary and inspiring company. Immersed in his own studies, stretched by perspectives beyond his discipline, exposed to exciting research previously unknown to him, Wilson experienced what he describes as “the most intellectually rewarding year of my academic life. There were many times when I rushed to my office to jot down insights or important references that bear directly or indirectly on my work and that were uncovered or discussed during the luncheon hour.”  After a formative year at the center, Wilson went on to become a MacArthur Fellow, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a recipient of the National Medal of Science, a British Academy Fellow, and, according to the Washington Post, the “most influential sociologist of his generation.”

How can we prevent future global economic crises?
Bank bailouts, home foreclosures, Ponzi schemes — can the roots of these and other symptoms of the current economic crisis be traced predictably to human psychology and behavior? Nobel Laureate in economics, the psychologist Daniel Kahneman (1977-78) and cognitive science pioneer Amos Tversky (1970-71) were already examining such questions during their fellowships. “It does not seem possible to characterize in a few sentences the deep impact that the center has had on my work,” Tversky said. Later, he collaborated with Kahneman on the groundbreaking concept of “framing” — often cited in discussions of today’s economy.

Tversky and Kahneman found that the way a choice is framed can have a profound impact on investment, borrowing, lending, and legislative decisions — and that people will not always make predictably rational choices. Building on this work, the center convened its Behavioral Economics Working Group in 1997-98 to probe the sociological, psychological, and neurobiological factors that shape financial decisions. Future fellows from diverse disciplines will continue to pursue this path in search of models that could predict economic behavior — and hopefully forestall economic breakdowns.