Social Studies
MN

Dialogue Across Difference

Professor Larry Jacobs has made it his mission to find new ways to talk about things people aren’t talking about and to look into places he doesn’t see people looking. This has led him to publish 16 books, over 100 scholarly articles, and numerous mainstream media pieces about topics including bipartisanship—something he sees as improbable…

The Gender Policy Report: Discover the Gender Equity Implications of Policymaking

Mandatory reporting, reproductive health, and even climate change are all areas with policies that have broader gender implications. Scholars at the University of Minnesota have created The Gender Policy Report, a nonpartisan project dedicated to curating and sharing information about the gender equity implications of various United States policies from scholars nationwide.

“Our objective…

Migration and Migrants in Terrifying Times: Confronting Challenges, Centering Solutions

We spoke with members of the “Migration and Migrants in Terrifying Times Project” about contemporary immigraton, migrants’ lived experiences, and new challenges in this political moment. Read more below!


The Migration and Migrants in Terrifying Times Project focuses on the challenges and obstacles faced by immigrants, as well as the broader importance and nature…

“Fake News” and Informational Moral Panic

According to Dr. Matt Carlson, the term “fake news” really blew up in 2016.

In an article published in Information, Communication & Society called “Fake news as an informational moral panic: the symbolic deviancy of social media during the 2016 US presidential election,” Dr. Carlson explores how the term “fake news” is used, who is…

Local News is Not What it Used to Be

In the age of the internet, what does “local” mean for local news organizations? As described by Dr. Matthew S. Weber, local news outlets are covering distances and audiences far beyond their traditional reach, changing the way they operate and the audiences they target. This complicates traditional understandings of how news organizations define “local.”…

‘I Don’t Know What to Believe:’ News Avoiders' Consumption Habits

Research from Dr. Benjamin Toff looks at why people avoid the news and what journalists can do about it.

Studying Better Business Behavior at the Minnesota State Fair

Dr. Amy O’Connor is studying what people expect from corporations at the great Minnesota get-together!

Learning from Political Splits in Spain

Clara’s research focuses on the role of media in the construction of Spanish and Catalan identities in light of the Catalan secessionist movement.