As the largest division on campus, the Social Sciences educate the next generation of professionals, researchers, and leaders to socially relevant thinking and doing.

left to right: Mike Lofchie (Poli Sci), Ed Keller (Poli Sci), Al Ingersol (Naval Science), Monica Smith (Archaeology), Tom Phelan (SSC), Carol Browner (Anthropology), Roger Farmer (Economics), Charles Stanish (Cotsen), Ned Alpers (History), Bill Roy (Sociology), Alessandro Duranti (Dean), David Scott (Conservation), Marilyn Raphael (Geography), Tim Groeling (Communication Studies), Cindy Fan (Associate Dean), Paul Rosenthal (Communication Studies), Alicia Gaspar de Alba (Chicana/o Studies), Abel Valenzuela (Chicano/o Studies), Elizabeth Landaw (Assistant Dean)



  • The Dodgers and Los Angeles
    after 50 Years: The Economics of How a Sports Icon and a City Grew Together Featuring Peter Guber (co-owner), Gary Beban (Heisman Trophy '67), Barry Axelrod (Agent) and many more . . .
    [Watch]

  • History Department receives transformative $10 Million gift!
     
    [watch video]

  • UCLA Professor Lloyd S. Shapley wins Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences Read more.

  • Watch 2012
    Commencement Ceremonies!     College of Letters and Science
    [WATCH]     Economics
    [WATCH]     Political Science
    [WATCH]

  • Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gives Lecture at Annual Political Science and Public Affairs Bollens-Ries-Hoffenberg Lecture Series Watch here!

Welcome

photo of Dean Duranti

The contemporary world is changing at a rapid pace and in often dramatic ways. Ordinary citizens as well as leaders and the social institutions they run are in great need of accurate documentation and solid theories of the social, cultural, and environmental conditions that make change likely, unlikely, predictable, or inevitable. Over the last one hundred years the social sciences have developed tools to provide highly reliable analyses of societal challenges and problems, at both the micro-level of everyday interaction and at the macro-level of socio-economic events that impact communities and organizations.

The Division of Social Sciences at UCLA, with its stellar faculty and highly ranked departments and programs, offers unique opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate education in African American studies, American Indian studies, anthropology, archaeology, Asian American studies, Chicana and Chicano studies, communication studies, economics, gender studies, geography, history, political science, and sociology. In each of these fields, human diversity is studied and celebrated from interdisciplinary perspectives that integrate the social sciences with one another and with the departments in the humanities, life sciences, and physical sciences, as well as in the professional schools.

Dean's Initiatives

Startup UCLA

Startup UCLA seeks to develop a culture of startup thinking on campus; to connect students with alumni who are successful in the startup world and with the rapidly growing Southern California startup community; to give students opportunities to learn the basics of startup thinking; and to provide a community in which students can develop and launch their early-stage ideas.

Social Science Education in Asia (SSEIA)

A new outreach initiative designed to connect with student populations beyond the UCLA campus. As part of the initiative, UCLA Social Sciences General Education (GE) courses are taught by UCLA instructors to highly-selected international students who are interested in attending university in the United States.