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 trainining and supporting new generations of social change scholars.

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ISSI Graduate Fellows Jesús Gutiérrez and Makaela Jones in conversation with Professor Courtney Morris at the May 2025 Breaking Barriers, Building Community symposium.

Recent Stories

2024-2025 Chancellor’s Awards for Public Service: Community Engaged Teaching Award

May 8, 2025

Travis Bristol, faculty affiliate of the Center for Research on Social Change, received the 2025 Chancellor’s Award for Community-Engaged Teaching. Professor Bristol’s public service work includes a research-practice-partnership in collaboration with Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) where undergraduates in his courses work alongside K-12 teachers and after-school staff to provide informal learning...

Global Studies chair discusses research, leadership and importance of her field

May 6, 2025

Elora Shehabuddin, Asian American Research Center faculty affiliate and UC Berkeley Global Studies chair, promotes a strong and supportive academic community for her faculty colleagues and students. In this Berkeley News article, Shehabuddin discusses her research on Muslim Bengali women’s activism in different arenas and her work to help students gain in-depth knowledge about the world around them, from foreign policy decisions to climate...

How is slavery represented at American tourist sites today?

April 22, 2025

That's the question ISSI faculty affiliate Stephen Small seeks to answer in his book, In the Shadows of the Big House. In this interview, Stephen Small shares his inspirations behind In the Shadows of the Big House, a compelling and deeply researched work that examines the representation of slavery in contemporary heritage tourism, while interrogating the intersections of race, tourism, and historical narrative....

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