The COVID pandemic is a crisis affecting not only public health but also governments, economies, and societies worldwide. It disrupts virtually everything that enables us to work, learn, play, and thrive. It also amplifies multiple vulnerabilities that existed prior to it, exposing historic and persistent inequalities, discrimination, and disadvantage in numerous forms. The pandemic additionally provides a complex setting for global movements unfolding in its shadow – the upsurge in extremist populism and bitter polarization, accelerated demands for racial justice, contestation of elections, and insurrection abetted by disinformation and conspiracy theories. Such events, crises, and interactions among them bring the U.S. and the world to a dangerous moment. But they also present unique opportunities to confront challenges with needed correctives to political, economic, and social infrastructures. No institutions, behaviors, or beliefs should be exempt from reconsideration.
Launched in 2020, the Center’s webcast series offers themed public discussions. CASBS-affiliated scholars and practitioners explain what brought us to this moment and explore how to generate realistic, durable change in service of more prosperous, equitable, inclusive, and human centered societies.
The Center gratefully acknowledges the Hewlett Foundation and individual donors for their support toward the production and presentation of this series.
Upcoming Episode
Episode 17: "Listening to American Voices and Communities"
Friday, August 27, 2021
1pm PDT | 4pm EDT
Corey Fields, David Grusky, and Hazel Markus in conversation with The Atlantic's James Fallows
Co-sponsors: Center on Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University, Russell Sage Foundation
Details and registration for this event COMING SOON.
Previous Episodes
Episode 16: "How Social Science Advances Our Understanding of Pandemics"
Peter Loewen, Alexis Madrigal, Adrian Raftery, Prerna Singh, and Robb Willer
Co-sponsors: CIFAR, the Pandemic Action Network, the Public Policy Forum, SAGE Publishing, and the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
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Episode 15: "What Human Flourishing Looks Like"
Jenna Bednar, Hilary Cottam, James Manyika, and Gillian Tett
Co-sponsors: Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, McKinsey Global Institute, New America, Stanford SPARQ, and the William + Flora Hewlett Foundation
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
View Event Flyer
Episode 14: "An Earth-friendly Political Economy"
Eric Beinhocker, Genevieve Bell, Arun Majumdar, and Kim Stanley Robinson
Co-sponsors: Insitute for New Economic Thinking at the University of Oxford, William + Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
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Episode 13: "America's Black-White Divide: Looking Back, Looking Around, Looking Forward"
Lawrence D. Bobo, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Margaret Levi, and Claude Steele
Co-sponsors: Program in African and African American Studies at Stanford University, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University.
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
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Episode 12: "What Institutional Courage Looks Like"
Estelle Freedman, Jennifer Freyd, Jennifer Gómez, and Carolyn Warner
Co-sponsors: Center for Institutional Courage, Gendered Violence Research Network at Arizona State University, Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute at Wayne State University, and Metro Detroit Association of Black Psychologists
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
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Episode 11: "The Digital Dilemma in the Time of Covid"
John Markoff, Nilam Ram, Byron Reeves, Abby Smith Rumsey, and Maryanne Wolf
Co-sponsors: Bloomberg Beta, the Council on Library and Information Resources, and The Human Screenome Project at Stanford University
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
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Episode 10: "Reforming Democratic Institutions and Practices"
James Fishkin, Luis Fraga, Martin Gilens, and Jane Mansbridge
Co-sponsors: Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard University, and Center for Deliberative Democracy, Stanford University
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
Episode 9: "The Persistence of Racial Inequality"
Joshua Cohen, Francis Fukuyama, Margaret Levi, Glenn Loury, and Alondra Nelson
Co-sponsors: Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford University, and the Social Science Research Council
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
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Episode 8: "Can We Rebuild Social Cohesion in the U.S.?"
Danielle Allen, David Brooks, Shaylyn Romney Garrett, Eric Klinenberg, and Robert Putnam
Co-sponsors: the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
Episode 7: "What Will Become of Work and Workers?"
Tara Behrend, Louis Hyman, John Irons, Margaret Levi, and Phyllis Moen
Co-sponsors: Institute for Work Studies, ILR School, Cornell University; New America; Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, The New School; Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
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Episode 6: "Higher Ed at the Crossroads"
Nina Bandelj, Jonathan Jansen, Debra Satz, and Caitlin Zaloom
Co-sponsors: Public Books and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
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Episode 5: "Reimagining the Corporation"
Paul Brest, Shona Brown, Colin Mayer, & Margaret O'Mara
Co-sponsor: The British Academy
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
Episode 4: "Race and the Movement for Justice in America"
Xavier de Souza Briggs, Clayborne Carson, Douglas McAdam, & Brenda Stevenson
Co-sponsors: National Humanities Center and the Center for Comparative Studies of Race and Ethnicity, Stanford University
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
View Event Flyer
Episode 3: "Polarization and Contentious Politics in the Age of Covid"
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Christian Davenport, & Rachel Kleinfeld
Co-sponsors: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Annual Reviews
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
Episode 2: "America As a Developing Country?"
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Margaret Levi, & Barry Weingast
Co-sponsor: Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford Univ.
*Audio version on CASBS's Human Centered podcast!
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Episode 1: "Politics as the Problem and Solution During COVID-19 and Beyond"
Binyamin Appelbaum, Tim Besley, & Margaret Levi
Co-sponsor: Annual Reviews
Series visionary and chief curator: Margaret Levi
Series producer: Mike Gaetani
Live event production: Paola Dios, Ting Liu
Additional assistance: Megan Deason, Jason Gonzales, Bruce Young
You also can view the series playlist on YouTube.
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CASBS presents this series for free. Please consider a donation to support the production of these webcasts and related outreach activities. A contribution now helps us to continue bringing you these great conversations.
