Letter from the Director | Spring 2006
U.S. Census Day
March 1, 2006, U.S. Census Day—You may have noticed that we pay a lot of attention to holidays here at ISERP. Today we are celebrating U.S. Census Day because March 1 marks the date on which the U.S. Census was first authorized. That seems appropriate for a social science institute. Speaking of holidays, last month we held the first (and last) ISERP annual Groundhog Day party. The general sense of the group was that holding parties to celebrate predictions made by small mindless creatures on the basis of poor empirical evidence too close to the annual state of the union address was confusing—just what were we celebrating? But despite all the problems facing the groundhog (competition from the state of the union address is perhaps less threatening than global warming, which, in the end, is why we are retiring the groundhog), we had a fine time. Next year, the annual party will be on ValentineÂ's Day—this seems appropriate and in line with the proposed 2006 federal budget which, while slashing funds for wasteful programs such as local schools, food stamps, and health care for veterans, increases spending on abstinence-only-unless-married education programs.
The new themes at ISERP this spring are genetics and politics. Most social scientists have an irrational fear of genetic expression because they believe that should there be such expression on social outcomes, our disciplines would come under challenge. This is a naive belief and arises from serious overvaluation of genetics. It is self-evident that observation of genetic expression is proof that social structure matters. The simple examples are legion—one cannot observe genetic expression for obesity without a social structure that produces food surpluses, etc. To explore this idea further, ISERP, in conjunction with the Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholars Program, is sponsoring a two-day working session focusing on how observation of genetic influence(s) shapes our understanding of social structure and the mechanisms for its production and reproduction. You will be able to read about the conference in the next issue of Health & Society News, the newsletter of the Robert Wood Johnson program.
One major function of ISERP is to support departments as they rebuild the social sciences at Columbia, and it is one of the roles we value most. We are currently trying to make a small contribution to the fantastic rebuilding efforts that are currently underway in the political science department. These hires will complement the recent hiring of Craig Calhoun (President of the Social Science Research Council) in the sociology department. His work cuts across the usual boundaries of sociology, political science, and history.
Another role we value greatly at ISERP is running the interdisciplinary graduate fellows program, a program designed to address two (often contradictory) goals in graduate education. One is students completing their dissertations in a timely manner; the other is exposing students across fields to the diverse methods, approaches, and knowledge of the social sciences. In this issue, Christina Greer (Political Science) contributes an interesting article on race, identity, and politics while Jason Dempsey, Robert Shapiro, and Craig Cummings address (in part) the growing Hispanic composition of the U.S. Army. Both projects are those of political scientists—but both (I hope one can see) are influenced by the larger social science community at ISERP from which they arise.
Peter Bearman, Director
Institute of Social and Economic
Research and Policy
