The Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI) is UC Berkeley's hub for interdisciplinary social justice research. Since 1976, the Institute has been fostering qualitative and quantitative interdisciplinary research on the issues central to social stratification and inequality while training and supporting new generations of social change scholars.

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Social Change Awards Ceremony: Wed., April 15! Honoring the 2023-2026 recipients of the FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE: Thomas I. Yamashita Prize & KIDS FIRST: David L. Kirp Prize

Recent Stories

Understanding moral agency, empathy, and stigma in the context of sexualised drug use

April 10, 2026

Daryl Mangosing, an alum of the Institute and a visiting scholar at the Berkeley Center for Social Medicine, published an article with Evan van Dommelen-Gonzalez and ISSI faculty affiliate Mark Fleming in the journal Culture, Health & Sexuality. In "‘I’m doing it willingly’: understanding moral agency, empathy, and stigma in the context of sexualised drug use," the scholars explore how moral agency, empathy, and stigma drive harm reduction in the...

UC Berkeley faculty weigh Chavez allegations and support student center renaming

April 10, 2026

ISSI faculty members Christian Paiz, Cristina Mora, and Laura Pérez discuss efforts to review the naming of the Cesar Chavez Student Center, reframing the conversation around accountability, representation and public memory. Cristina Mora said the allegations come at a particularly "fraught" moment for the Latinx community, "but it also provides an opportunity to come heal together. We need to reassure our students...

Ecologies of Sex and Motherhood

April 6, 2026

Lena Chen and NAMI [Evan Sakuma], Asian American Research Center graduate students, curated Studio Visits, a series of virtual artist-scholar dialogues. The inaugural conversation has been documented in Theatre Journal and reflects on artistic process, sexuality, and motherhood, and archives the importance of BAD ASIANS’ ongoing projects that interrogate the intersections of art, identity, and radical practice.

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