Research Programs

Field Experiments at ISPS

One of the hallmarks of ISPS is its commitment to field experimentation. Unlike laboratory experiments, field experiments take place in real-world settings: political campaigns, schools, police agencies, and the like. For example, scholars at ISPS have conducted experiments on voter mobilization and persuasion involving millions of subjects. They have also studied the effects of civics curricula in schools, various policies on the behavior of the mentally ill homeless, the economic benefits of providing small loans to households in developing countries, the educational consequences associated with school choice programs, the consequences of internal election observers for election fraud, the effects of grassroots lobbying on the passage of laws, and the effects of lottery winnings on subsequent social and psychological outcomes. In each case, treatment and control groups are assigned at random, enabling researchers to draw precise inferences about cause and effect. Web site, www.yale.edu/isps/publications.

ISPS Summer Program: Designing, Conducting, and Analyzing Field Experiments

Established in 2001, the ISPS Summer Program: Designing, Conducting, and Analyzing Field Experiments continues its partnership with the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), a unit of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. This short course aims to accomplish the following: (1) explain why experiments are valuable tools for social science and program evaluation; (2) examine in-depth examples of how field experiments are designed, executed, and analyzed; and (3) explore and develop research ideas through discussion with peers and specialists.

Experiments enable social scientists to draw valid inferences about cause and effect. The essential ingredient of experimentation is random assignment of people to treatment and control groups. Randomization ensures that these groups differ solely due to chance. So long as the experiment involves an ample number of subjects, the role of chance becomes minimal; the treatment and control conditions become virtually identical. These equivalent groups are then presented with different treatments. Since preexisting differences have been eliminated, the different responses of the treatment and control groups may be attributed to the influence of the treatment. Experiments correct many of the deficiencies of observational, or nonexperimental, data. Random assignment enables researchers to disentangle the complex causal interplay among variables. It also affords the researcher much more control over what that treatment is and how accurately it is measured. There are, of course, practical and ethical limits to the sorts of experiments that can be performed in social science. Nevertheless, the range of applications remains very large.

This course discusses a wide array of exemplary experiments in the areas of political science, advertising, public policy, health, and criminal justice. And the workshop concentrates on field experiments. Unlike laboratory experiments, field experiments take place in real-world settings: political campaigns, schools, police agencies, and the like. Participants should have a background in statistics, up to and including multiple regression and analysis of variance. Enrollment in this course is limited.

For inquiries about the program, please contact the Director, Donald Green, telephone: 203.432.3234; fax: 203.432.3296; e-mail: isps@yale.edu. Additional information is also available at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies Web site: www.yale.edu/isps/experimental.

Postdoctoral Programs

Program in Agrarian Studies

The Program in Agrarian Studies is an experimental, interdisciplinary initiative involving faculty and graduate students from anthropology, history, political science, sociology, economics, international relations, the Law School, and the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. The aim is to reinvigorate the analysis of agrarian issues with the fresh air of popular knowledge about lived experience—e.g., poverty, subsistence, cultivation, ecology, justice, art, custom, law, property, ritual life, cooperation, and state action. The interdisciplinary premise of the program is that the study of the Third World must never be separated from the study of the West, nor the humanities separated from the social sciences. The program sponsors a lively weekly colloquium organized around an annual theme. Specialists are invited from throughout the world. A team-taught interdisciplinary graduate seminar titled Agrarian Societies: Culture, Power, History, and Development is offered in the fall term of each year. The program also sponsors four to six postdoctoral fellows from various countries, representing disciplines such as anthropology, history, economics, and sociology. Interdisciplinary graduate student colloquia and small research grants for graduate work on agrarian topics are also funded. Agrarian Studies is supported by funds provided by Cargill, the Education Foundation of America, and Yale University. It is directed by James Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology. The program is also affiliated with the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale.

For more information on the work of the Program in Agrarian Studies,call or write to the program’s coordinator, Kay Mansfield, PO Box 208300, New Haven CT 06520-8300 (203.432.9833) or www.yale.edu/agrarianstudies/real/ashome.html.

Center for the Study of American Politics

The Center for the Study of American Politics was created to promote the work of scholars in the field of American politics. Using a broad set of methodological approaches and enjoying the advantages of deep knowledge of American politics, Americanists have made signal contributions to our understanding of political institutions and behavior. The Yale Center for the Study of American Politics is dedicated to furthering this intellectual tradition.

In order to achieve its goals, the center sponsors and supports a number of activities:

• Inviting established scholars and postdoctoral students to spend a year at the center while pursuing their own research and participating in the activities of the center.
  
  
• Sponsoring conferences on subject areas of interest to affiliated faculty in American politics.
  
  
• Sponsoring a weekly lunchtime research workshop featuring current American political science and public policy research by leading scholars in the field, including distinguished faculty from other institutions, postdoctoral fellows of the center, and Ph.D. candidates at Yale.
  

In this way, the Center for the Study of American Politics strives to make important contributions to research and teaching in the field of American politics while enhancing the academic environment for students and faculty at Yale. More information on the center can be obtained from Pamela Greene at 432.3052 or www.yale.edu/csap.

Undergraduate Programs

Program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics

The Program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics (EPE) sponsors interdisciplinary teaching and research in the social sciences and humanities at Yale. The program was created in the belief that trends toward specialized fields and subdisciplines should not displace attempts to integrate empirical, analytical, and normative concerns that range over the different disciplines of the modern university. The program is home to the undergraduate major in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, which involves faculty from anthropology, economics, law, management, philosophy, political science, and sociology. The program also sponsors a variety of conferences, workshops, publications, and lectures—most notably the Castle Lectures, which have been delivered by, among others, Abba Eban, Paul Tsongas, Lester Thurow, Michael Walzer, Sissela Bok, Justice Richard Goldstone, Martha Nussbaum, Robert Dahl, Onora O’Neill (Newnham College, Cambridge University), Richard Sennett, and, in 2005, Francis Fukuyama. The program is also home to the Mars and Orrick visiting professorships. Visitors supported by these professorships have included Joseph Raz (Oxford), John Dunn (Cambridge), Boris Kapustin (Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences), John Gray (Oxford), Brian Barry (London School of Economics), Joan Tronto (Hunter College), Philippe Van Parijs (Université Catholique de Louvain), Amelie Rorty (Brandeis University), Nicola Lacey (London School of Economics), and David Soskice (Duke University and Wissenschaftszentrum in Berlin). The program administers the George H. Hume Fund, which provides endowment support for the core EPE courses; the Jonathan Clark Endowment, which supports research on EPE senior essay projects during the summer between the junior and senior years; the Litowitz Fund, which sponsors teaching in the major as well as sponsoring the Litowitz Lecture on religion and public policy; and the Jerome Medalie ’45w Endowment, which supports undergraduate research on issues pertaining to ethics and technology. EPE is directed by Seyla Benhabib, Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy.

For more information on the Program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, contact Kellianne Farnham, Registrar, PO Box 208343, New Haven CT 06520-8343 (203.436.3699) or www.yale.edu/epe.

Interdisciplinary Introduction to Statistics Program

In light of the importance of statistical reasoning for policy analysis and decision making, ISPS helped develop an interdisciplinary introduction to statistics in 1998. The course assumes no mathematical background—in particular, no calculus—and caters to students who are not mathematically inclined but who have decided they want to learn key concepts of probability and inference within the span of one term. The course is therefore designed to present the most useful and essential material. A two-pronged approach accommodates students from widely varying fields. Each course in the STAT 101a–106a series provides a basic introduction to statistics, including numerical and graphical summaries of data, probability, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, and regression. Each course focuses on applications to a particular field of study and is taught jointly by two instructors, one specializing in statistics and the other in the relevant area of application. The first seven weeks of classes are attended by all students together, as general concepts and methods of statistics are developed. The remaining weeks are divided into field-specific sections that develop the concepts with examples and applications. Computers are used for data analysis. These courses are alternatives; they do not form a sequence and only one may be taken for credit. There are no prerequisites beyond high school algebra; the courses may not be taken after STAT 100b. This curriculum has seen enrollments grow steadily in recent years amid strong evaluations of its instructors.

Interdisciplinary Initiatives

Yale University’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics

The Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics was originally initiated as the Bioethics Project in the summer of 1998 by ISPS. Its astonishing growth since then testifies to the readiness of Yale University for such a center and its necessity in the larger academic community. Under the guidance of Robert J. Levine and Margaret Farley, co-directors, and its Executive Committee, the center has articulated a mission that incorporates intra-Yale aims for coordinating interdisciplinary research and significantly supplementing undergraduate and graduate curricular offerings. The aims of the center also reach beyond Yale to the general development of the discipline of bioethics and sharing the University’s commitment to serve the local, national, and international communities in addressing bioethical questions of urgent importance.

The Executive Committee of the Bioethics Center has operated with the conviction that Yale offers a unique opportunity for pursuing the questions of bioethics. It is distinctive among comparable universities in that it encompasses professional schools of Medicine, Nursing, Law, Divinity, Forestry & Environmental Studies, and Management, as well as departments of Epidemiology and Public Health, Philosophy, Religious Studies, natural and social sciences, and the humanities. Moreover, Yale has a remarkable history of interdisciplinary work, one in which faculty and students in many parts of the University have been engaged in issues of bioethics for a long time. Coordinating this work has added to the center’s energy and focus.

The past eight years have seen an extraordinary number of activities sponsored or cosponsored by the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. These include public symposia (on such topics as Avian Influenza pandemic preparedness, stem cell research and the future of therapeutic cloning, the legacy of Agent Orange, and averting hostile biotechnology); numerous faculty seminars and ongoing study groups (e.g., on genetically modified plants, disability issues, end-of-life issues, public health ethics, aging, and risk assessment); public lecture series (bringing national and international leaders into conversation with Yale faculty and students); three international conferences (on the biological, social, industrial, and cultural history of the chicken; the future of rice biotechnology; and the interface of gender, globalization, and health); and highly subscribed graduate and undergraduate courses offered by visiting professors of bioethics Albert R. Jonsen, William F. May, Celia B. Fisher, Samuel Gorovitz, David H. Smith, and Karen Lebacqz. In addition, in the past two years the center has hosted J. Baird Callicott and Holmes Rolston III as visiting professors in environmental ethics.

In 2003 the center was awarded a five-year, $2.1 million grant by the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation to establish the Donaghue Initiative in Biomedical and Behavioral Research Ethics, under the directorship of Robert J. Levine. The purpose of the initiative is to promote the study of the ethical aspects and implications of research on human subjects. Since its inception, the initiative has established an array of interdisciplinary programs, including a research ethics working group examining the ethics of research with end-of-life patients, a discussion group devoted to writing and discussing cases in research ethics, and a statewide network of institutional review boards. The initiative also supports a yearly Visiting Scholarship in Research Ethics and funds projects that examine an ethical problem in the conduct or institutional review of human subjects research.

We are delighted to have Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-founder and co-director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, and David H. Smith (returning for his second year), former director of the Poynter Center for the Study of Ethics and American Institutions, as our bioethicists-in-residence for the 2006–2007 academic year. We are also pleased to welcome David Koepsell, Ph.D. and J.D. from the University of Buffalo, as the Donaghue Visiting Scholar for 2006–2007.

For more information on the Center for Bioethics at Yale, contact Carol Pollard at 203.432.6188 or see the center’s Web site at www.yale.edu/bioethics.

The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism

The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism is dedicated to the scholarly research of the origins and manifestations associated with antisemitism globally, as well as other forms of prejudice, including racism, as it relates to policy. Through its examination of antisemitism and policy, YIISA disseminates scholarly material to promote further understanding and to contribute to aspects of policy analysis.

The main objective of the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism is to encourage, develop, and support interdisciplinary research. In doing so it promotes communication and dialogue among scholars, policy makers, and the public at large. A key goal of YIISA is to promote excellence in research and develop accessible social scientific understanding. YIISA aims to contribute scholarly discourse and policy development in the local, national, and international contexts.

The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism aims to house various research projects and scholars, seminars, public meetings, conferences, symposiums, and events, and to publish periodicals, reports, and academic articles and volumes that operate at both the conceptual and the practical levels. In doing so, YIISA will establish itself as a center of excellence. The work of YIISA is geared toward education, policy development, consulting, and public awareness. YIISA is a non-partisan space that encourages dialogue and debate.

The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism currently runs a seminar series that is open to all.

For more information on the work of the program, call or write to the director, Charles Asher Small, 203.436.8189, charles.small@yale.edu or the coordinator, Victoria (Tory) Bilski, 203.432.3829, victoria.bilski@yale.edu. Or visit the program’s Web site: www.yale.edu/isps/seminars/antisemitism/index.html

Seminar Program for 2006–2008

Interdisciplinary seminars have been an important component of ISPS’s programmatic activity throughout its history. These seminars generally involve several faculty members and a larger number of graduate and professional students from a variety of disciplines, departments, and schools. The history of some of the seminars goes back a decade or more; others are new this year. The format of each ISPS Interdisciplinary Seminar depends upon the interests of its members. Seminars typically involve visiting speakers, discussion of published and unpublished papers, and presentation of seminar participants’ own work. Frequency varies from weekly to monthly.

The following is a list of the topics and organizers of ISPS Seminars for 2006–2008; most are open to interested members of the Yale community. All seminars are held at 77 Prospect Street (corner of Prospect and Trumbull streets) unless otherwise noted. Attendance at some seminars requires advance notice, and some distribute papers in advance. Lunch is provided at most seminars. For information, telephone Pamela Greene at 203.432.3052 or visit our Web site at www.yale.edu/isps/seminars.

American Politics Workshop. The American Politics Workshop is a collaborative effort between ISPS and the Yale Center for the Study of American Politics (CSAP). Each seminar features a presentation of current political science research by leading scholars in the field, including distinguished faculty from other institutions, research fellows of the CSAP, and Ph.D. candidates at Yale. The American Politics Workshop meets weekly on Wednesdays from 12 to 1.30 p.m. at ISPS, 77 Prospect Street, Room A002, in conjunction with the Politics of Public Policy Seminar series. Faculty organizer: Alan Gerber, Department of Political Science. Contact for information: Pamela Greene, 203.432.3052. Web site: www.yale.edu/csap/seminars/index.htm#apw

Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective. Anti-Judaism, or the controversial term coined in the 1870s by Wilhelm Marr, antisemitism, is one of the most complex and, at times, perplexing forms of hatred. It spans history, infecting different societies, religious and philosophical movements, and even civilizations. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, some contend that antisemitism illustrates the limitations of the Enlightenment and modernity itself. Manifestations of antisemitism emerge in numerous ideology1-based narratives and the constructed identities of belonging and otherness such as race and ethnicity, nationalisms, and anti-nationalisms.

This seminar series, co-sponsored with the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, aims to explore this subject matter in a comprehensive, interdisciplinary framework from an array of approaches and perspectives as well as regional contexts. Eminent scholars and researchers are invited to present seminar papers in an informal setting. To enhance the level of discussion, papers are made available online one week prior to the seminar. The Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective seminar series normally meets on Thursdays from 4.15 to 5.45 p.m. at ISPS, 77 Prospect Street, Room A002, unless indicated otherwise. Organizer: Charles Small, Director, Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA). Contact for information: Victoria Bilski, 203.432.3829.

Bioethics Workshop. The Bioethics Workshop provides a place for Yale faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, and community members to engage in interdisciplinary bioethical discussion. A faculty member begins the session with an overview of a bioethical issue; in some cases, the presentation centers on work in progress. The discussion is then opened up to questions and comments from attendees. This program aims to expose faculty members to different disciplines’ ways of viewing bioethical issues while broadening awareness of the rich and diverse resources available at Yale. Faculty, students, and community members are welcome. The Bioethics Workshop meets monthly on Wednesdays from 12 to 1.30 p.m. in the Center for Bioethics Conference Room D130 at ISPS, 77 Prospect Street. Faculty organizer and moderator: Robert J. Levine, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine, Co-Chair of the Executive Committee for the Yale Interdisciplinary Program in Bioethics, Lecturer in Pharmacology. Contact for information: Jonathan Moser, 203.432.5680. Web site: www.yale.edu/bioethics/workgroup/bioethics.shtml

Economic History Workshop. ISPS is pleased to be supporting the Economic History Workshop in the 2006–2007 academic year as a co-sponsor with the Economic Growth Center at the Yale Department of Economics. This weekly workshop focuses on issues of long-run and historical economic growth and development. Speakers include Yale faculty and graduate students as well as distinguished scholars from other institutions. A paper is normally available to be read in advance of each seminar meeting, and the workshop emphasizes informal discussion of the paper. All are welcome regardless of department or institutional affiliation.

The Economic History Workshop meets on Wednesdays from 4 to 5.30 p.m. at ISPS, 77 Prospect Street, Room A001. (Downstairs to the left as you enter the building.) Faculty Organizer: Timothy Guinnane, Department of Economics.

Interdisciplinary Risk Assessment Forum. Risk assessment names a scientific activity devoted to evaluating the exposures and effects of chemicals and other agents, with the goal of characterizing their magnitude and nature. The results yield seemingly objective statements about what shall be considered “adverse” or “unsafe.” However, a system of subjective, societal valuations underlies its apparently scientific foundations. Such merging of objective and scientific analyses and subjective social valuations raises important ethical and political concerns.

Now in its seventh year, the Interdiscplinary Risk Assessment Forum provides an opportunity to explore those concerns. The objective of the forum is to explore the interdisciplinary nature of risk assessment from the perspectives of both theory and application. A select group of outside speakers, each prominent for his or her work in areas related to risk assessment, discuss their perceptions and understanding of the interface of society and science in risk assessment and risk management.

The Interdiscplinary Risk Assessment Forum usually meets monthly on Wednesdays from 12 to 1.30 p.m. To encourage wider participation, the meetings rotate among the facilities at ISPS, the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and Epidemiology and Public Health. Faculty organizer: Jonathan Borak, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor, Internal Medicine and Epidemiology and Public Health. Contact for information: Jonathan Moser, 203.432.5680. Web site: www.yale.edu/bioethics/workgroup/riskassesment.shtml

Political Theory Workshop. The Political Theory Workshop provides an informal, interdisciplinary forum for the presentation of work in progress. The workshop features papers by Yale faculty members, visiting scholars, and graduate students in the fields of political philosophy, social theory, ethics, intellectual history, and related disciplines. Papers are distributed in advance and participants come prepared to discuss them in detail. The workshop meets on selected Thursdays from 4.15 to 6 p.m. at ISPS, 77 Prospect Street, Room A001. The seminar is followed by a reception. For a list of speakers and the schedule, please visit www.yale.edu/isps/seminars/politheo/index.html. Faculty organizer: Bryan Garsten, Assistant Professor, Political Science. Graduate student coordinators: Turkuler Isiksel, Ph.D. candidate, Political Science; Justin Zaremby, Ph.D. candidate, Political Science. Contact for information: Pamela Greene, 203.432.3052.

Politics of Public Policy. This series bridges political science and policy analysis. Its aim is to explore how politics shapes important areas of domestic public policy and how public policy, in turn, shapes important aspects of domestic politics. Distinguished scholars interested in these intertwined issues present diverse, cutting-edge research, ranging from cross-national and historical investigations to analyses of current policy debates. Organizer: Jacob S. Hacker, Political Science, telephone: 203.432.5554. Web site: www.yale.edu/csap/seminars/index.htm#schedule.

Program in Agrarian Studies Colloquium Series. This weekly colloquium series is organized around an annual theme and is the core of the Agrarian Studies Program. Invited specialists send papers in advance that are the focus of an organized discussion by the faculty and graduate students associated with the colloquium. Organizer: James Scott, Political Science and Anthropology. Fridays, 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Web site: www.yale.edu/agrarianstudies/real/ashome.

Yale Aids Colloquium Series (YACS). Now in its sixteenth year, the Yale AIDS Colloquium Series (YACS) is an interdisciplinary academic forum for discussion of AIDS-related research cosponsored by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) and Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS). This bimonthly colloquium series brings to the Yale campus researchers, policy makers, advocates, representatives from nonprofit organizations, and others to discuss topics in HIV/AIDS research and policy. The attendees include a mixture of faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, researchers, providers, and members of the local community, and are generally quite knowledgeable on HIV/AIDS issues. The Yale AIDS Colloquium Series meets bimonthly at CIRA, 40 Temple Street, Suite 1B. For the schedule, please visit http://cira.med.yale.edu/events/yacs.html. Coordinator/contact: Leif Mitchell, CIRA/Epidemiology and Public Health, 203.764.4347.

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