Social sciences provide an analytical approach to society’s problems. As a result, faculty and students in the social sciences often focus on complex and intersectional issues such as racism, international conflict and war, climate change, and poverty. Through an objective and empirical approach to these issues, the goal is to generate genuine passion and equip future leaders with the skills they need to address the world’s challenges. Explore majors, minors, concentrations, and academic programs in the social sciences.
African Studies
Anthropology
Asian Studies
Black Studies
Climate Studies
Commerce and Society
Criminology
Economics
Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
News from Social Sciences
All news »
We Love Our Supporters
Gifts to the College of Arts and Sciences can help our students make the most of their college careers. To do this, CAS needs your support. Your contributions help us ensure that teaching, research, advising, mentoring, and support services are fully available to every student. Thank you!
World-Class Faculty in the Social Sciences
Ashley Cordes
Assistant Professor of Indigenous Media in Environmental Studies and Data Science
Ashely Cordes is an academic expert in Indigenous data sovereignty, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. Her research explores how Indigenous communities can leverage technological utilities—such as cryptocurrency and AI—for Tribal economic independence, representational and data sovereignty, and preservation of knowledge systems.
Neil O'Brian
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Neil O’Brian is an academic expert in U.S. politics focusing on public opinion, political parties, and polarization. His recent work has focused on how people’s perceptions of politics and current events affect their political attitudes. He’s recently published the book The Roots of Polarization: From the Racial Realignment to the Culture Wars (University of Chicago Press).
O’Brian is the second UO researcher to receive an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. O’Brian is using the fellowship to further explore what he calls the “doctor’s project.” The start of this research began when he identified a partisan divide in the trust people have in their physicians; those on the political right expressed less trust in their doctors than those on the left. This is a recent phenomenon, as data showed no difference in trust in one’s doctor until a shift in 2020-21, during the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. O’Brian argues the partisan divide over public health measures—such as masking and vaccines—led to less trust in the medicine industry.
Melissa Graboyes
Associate Professor of History, Global Health Program
Melissa Graboyes is a historian of modern Africa and a global health specialist whose research focuses primarily on medicine and science in the East African region.
Graboyes’ current research projects have been supported by major research funds. Her work on the history of malaria elimination on the African continent is funded by a five-year National Science Foundation CAREER award. A three-year collaborative research project on returning research results from social science disciplines to African participants—removing costly barriers to make findings more accessible—is funded with a three-year NSF award. She is also working on global health research at the local Eugene level through her project on aspects of care for people who inject drugs.
As a mentor, Graboyes works with undergraduate students in research groups. She leads the Global Health Research Group, which helps students gain skills and tools for conducting undergraduate research. The group consists of students interested in global health-related topics, as well as students majoring in a STEM field who are interested in ethics, history and the processes of science.
Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages
At the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages, UO students engage with diverse cultures, languages, histories, and lifeways across the world. Students of the social sciences, from Anthropology to Sociology, will broaden and deepen their education in their field by viewing it—and experiencing it—through a global lens. GSL prepares our graduates for life after college with an interdisciplinary curriculum, innovative language teaching, abundant learning opportunities outside the classroom, and paths of study that lead to many options for real-world careers.
Research in the Social Sciences
Research in the social sciences investigates human behavior and the motivations that influence it. Although some of our research occurs in the lab, much of it is conducted out in the field using a variety of methodological approaches, from exploratory to experimental. The results of our research often carry societal-level implications and may point to solutions for addressing local, national, or global challenges.
2024-2025 Sponsored Research in Social Sciences
Between July 2024 and June 2025, researchers in CAS received $83 million to fund 199 research projects, including approximately $6 million for Social Sciences. The research projects, which span divisions and fields of study, represent CAS's commitment to curiosity, discovery, and innovation.
Explore Other Majors and Minors in the College of Arts and Sciences
Meet Our Dean
Welcome to the social sciences division of the College of Arts and Sciences. Within our community, we address some of the world’s problems—big or small—through interdisciplinary research and critical thinking. What drives us is a passion for exploring human behavior and society.
The social sciences provide the necessary foundation for any academic inquiry, from the creative arts to the natural sciences. Inside the classroom, we lead courses that are engaging and thought-provoking, inspiring students to become better citizens of our world and work toward a more inclusive future.
We also believe real-world experience offers some of the most impactful learning opportunities. From internships to study abroad trips that offer new cultural experiences, our students regularly engage in hands-on learning work that reaches across social, disciplinary, and geographic boundaries, allowing them to forge new connections and spark new ideas.
We look forward to changing the world with you.
Bruce McGough
Divisional Associate Dean, Social Sciences
Happening at CAS
11:00 a.m.
Please join the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies for a talk with Shane T. Moreman, PhD, Department of Communication, California State University, Fresno, titled “Displaced Practices of Discursive Change Circulations of Social Justice Ephemeralities within a Leather Bar Context.”
"While not the only ones, three normative discourses still dominate U.S. Western society: Whiteness, masculinity, and heterosexuality. As a critical communication scholar working through a performance studies paradigm, my work codifies these discourses with the goal of recognizing moments of social justice reconstitutions. My latest communication performance ethnography focuses on discursive interactions within a leather gay bar—Falcon—located in a mostly commercial neighborhood on the northeast side of a major U.S. northwestern city. I am drawn to learn how Whiteness and its adjacent cis male and masculine positionalities are circulating within contemporary, shifting registers of social codes around race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. As the world changes, how are these discourses adapting and changing? Steeped within the Whiteness, cis-maleness, and masculinity of a leather gay bar context, Falcon is a context for a bar culture that modulates and incorporates macro-level discursive conceptions into its localized performative acts all situated within contemporary frameworks. Influenced by Gloria Anzaldúa, Maria Lugones, and José Esteban Muñoz, I embrace a ontoepistemological approach so as to empirically cruise Falcon for creativity that disrupts normative reductions and advances complex co-existence. As Whiteness and its adjacent cis male and masculine positionalities co-mingle with contemporary expressions of nonnormative race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, I observe moments of co-mmuning and possibly co-muting with transness, nonbinariness, and gender diversity. When normativity tries to adapt to queer worldmaking, how are those adaptations manifested in the moment? In what ways are social codes reconfigured to generate a better presence? And, as queer worldmaking is ephemeral, what might we move forward with to improve the normative worlds in which we all predominantly must exist—at least for now? I begin answering those questions as a joto with a tequila soda in my hand at a mostly White, mostly cis male, and mostly masculine leather gay bar named Falcon."
6:30–10:00 p.m.
Join the Undergraduate Anthropology Club for a celebration of all things anthropology with food, crafts, activities, and student presentations! Everyone is welcome to attend.
7:00–9:00 p.m.
In honor of International Mother Language Day, the Northwest Indigenous Language Institute (NILI) at the UO invites you to attend an evening of film and conversation to raise awareness about revitalizing Indigenous languages and cultures.
Two documentaries will be screened. The first, Kla-Mo-Ya Language (20 min), by UO student filmmaker Princess (Princi) Bass-Mason, introduces people learning the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin languages, which are being revitalized by the Klamath Tribes of Oregon. The second film, And Knowledge To Keep Us (58 min), by UO journalism professor Torsten Kjellstrand, follows a Sugpiat culture and language camp that takes place annually on remote Kodiak Island in Alaska.
Immediately following the screening, a panel consisting of the two filmmakers and language revitalization practitioners will hold a conversation with the audience. Tickets are sliding scale and by donation only: suggested donation of $10 for students, $20 for adults. All proceeds will go towards the critical work at NILI helping to restore and revitalize languages of Oregon and beyond.
https://www.eugenearthouse.com/movie/and-knowledge-to-keep-us-wq
7:30 p.m.
Shakespeare’s immortal comedy of love and intrigue! The people of Messina are determined to celebrate the impending marriage of Hero and Claudio with all-out merry-making, and the Prince (Don Pedro) decides getting the always-sparring Benedick and Beatrice to fall in love is the ultimate prank. Unfortunately, the Prince’s evil brother, Don John, sees a perfect opportunity to stir up trouble, causing a huge uproar that almost destroys everything. Luckily, the inept Constable Dogberry and his band of goofy Watchmen save the day!
By William Shakespeare Directed by Jerry Ferraccio Robinson Theatre (Grand Reopening!)
February 13, 14, 20, 21, 22*, 27, 28, March 1* 7:30pm evening performances and 2:00pm* matinees