Knowledge for a World in Crisis

Initiatives built around a particular theme applying knowledge to key societal challenges for a world facing acute, interrelated challenges.  These draw on the expertise and interests of former CASBS fellows and Stanford faculty serving as faculty fellows, benefit from the capacity of CASBS to convene and provide staff support, and culminate in a mix of collective academic work, new ventures, and concrete ideas for policymakers.  The following are recent examples:

Moral Political Economy
A collection of initiatives analyzing the relationship between politics, economics, and society, and assessing the extent to which economic frameworks and supporting institutions are frayed, subject to pressure and critiques in different societies, and call for reforms that draw on rigorous social scientific insights to better enable individuals, societies, and the environment to thrive.

Humans, Nature, and Machines
A series of initiatives that analyze complex interactions between humans and their natural environment as well as the impact of AI and other technologies on human behavior.

Social Science of Caregiving 
Caregiving has received much less intellectual and academic attention than other kinds of social relationships. This CASBS project has provided a corrective by exploring the philosophical, biological, psychological, political, and economic foundations of care and caregiving. It contributed to a cross-disciplinary synthesis and advanced development of a general theory of care.