Human Centered

Renowned comparative political scientist and former CASBS fellow (1999-2000) David Laitin has influenced generations of scholars through his investigations of the intricate interplay of cultural phenomena – such as language, religion, and ethnicity – with politics and political life across societies. The complex dynamics he reveals get to the roots of conflict, cooperation, identity formation as well as nation- and state-building. Laitin takes us on a sweeping tour of some of his career’s principal works, findings, and collaborations in conversation with 2025-26 CASBS fellow Olukunle Owolabi.DAVID LAITIN: Stanford faculty page | Google Scholar page | National Academy of Sciences bio | Wikipedia page | Johan Skytte Foundation article |OLUKUNLE OWOLABI: Villanova faculty page | CASBS bio | Villanova article on six awards won by Kunle's 2023 book |David Laitin books:D. Laitin. Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1977).D. Laitin. Hegemony and Culture: The Politics of Religious Change among the Yoruba (Univ. Chicago Press, 1986).D. Laitin and S. Samatar, Somalia: Nation in Search of a State (Westview Press, 1987).D. Laitin. Language Repertoires and State Construction in Africa (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1992).D. Laitin. Identity in Formation: The Russian-speaking Populations in the Near Abroad (Cornell Univ. Press, 1998).D. Laitin. Nations, States and Violence (Oxford Univ. Press, 2007).D. Laitin, C. Adida and M. Valfort. Why Mulsim Integration Fails in Christian-heritage Societies (Harvard Univ. Press, 2016).D. Laitin and D. Christensen. African Politics since Independence: Order, Development and Democracy (Yale Univ. Press, 2019).David Laitin articles referenced in this episode:D. Laitin and R. Ramachandran, "The Historical Sources of Language Policy," Journal of Politics (2014).D. Laitin and R. Ramachandran, "Language Policy and Socioeconomic Outcomes," Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language (2026).D. Laitin and R. Ramachandran, "Linguistic Diversity, Official Language Choice and Human Capital," Journal of Development Economics (2022).D. Laitin, R. Ramachandran and S. Walter," The Legacy of Colonial Language Policies and their Impact on Student Learning: Evidence from an Experimental Program in Cameroon," Economic Development and Cultural Change (2019).D. Laitin and R. Ramachandran, "Language Policy and Human Development," American Political Science Review (2016).D. Laitin, J. Hainmueller, et al., "Breaking Down Barriers to Naturalization for Low-income Immigrants: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Design," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018).D. Laitin, T. Gurr, et al., "Socially Relevant Ethnic Groups, Ethnic Structure and AMAR," Journal of Peace Research (2015).D. Laitin and J. Fearon, "Civil War Non-onsets: The Case of Japan," Journal of Civilization Studies (2014)D. Laitin, C. Adida and M. Valfort, "Identifying Barriers to Muslim Integration in France," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2010).D. Laitin and J. Fearon, "Sons-of-the-soil, Migrants, and Civil War," World Development (2011).D. Laitin and A. Krueger, "Kto-Kogo? A Cross-country Study of the Origins and Targets of Terrorism," in Terrorism, Economic Development, and Political Openness (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008).D. Laitin and E. Berman, "Religion, Terrorism and Public Goods: Testing the Club Model," Journal of Public Economics (2008).D. Laitin and A. Krueger, "'Misunderestimating' Terrorism: The State Department's Big Mistake, Foreign Affairs (2004).D. Laitin and J. Fearon, "Neotrusteeship and the Problem of Weak States," International Security (2004).D. Laitin and J. Fearon, "Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War," American Political Science Review (2003).D. Laitin and J. Fearon, "Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identities," International Organization (2000).D. Laitin and J. Fearon, "Explaining Interethnic Cooperation," American Political Science Review (1996).D. Laitin, "The Tower of Babel as a Coordination Game: Political Linguistics in Ghana," American Political Science Review (1994).D. Laitin, S. Kalyvas and C Sole, "Language and the Construction of States: The Case of Catalonia in Spain," Politics and Society (1994).D. Laitin, "Linguistic Conflict in Catalonia," Language Problems and Language Planning (1987).David Laitin's full curriculum vitae accessible from his Stanford University faculty page.PostscriptIn the episode, David Laitin acknowledges the influence of two towering social scientists -- Clifford Geertz and Albert Hirschman -- both of whom were CASBS fellows (Geertz in 1958-59, Hirschman in 1968-69). Hirschman, notably, wrote the seminal book Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States while at CASBS. In this podcast episode, David Laitin describes developing the argument for his book Identity in Formation by following the conceptual framework of the classic Hirschman book. Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Political conflicts related to immigration are thorny enough on their own. The issues and challenges intensify once we add to the mix our warming planet and its relationship to migration, immigration, and human displacement. Two 2024-25 CASBS fellows – Maureen Eger, a sociologist of immigration, and Alice Farmer, a refugee lawyer specializing in climate change and displacement – discuss scholarly and policy dimensions of the climate migration landscape in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Markoff (CASBS fellow, 2017-18). Maureen Eger: USC faculty page | personal website | Google Scholar page | Alice Farmer: LinkedIn page |  Read John Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand  (Penguin Random House, 2022). John's next book, expected in 2027, will be published by MIT Press. Referenced in the episode or related works L. Yang, M. Eger, and Link, eds. Migration Stigma: Understanding Prejudice, Discrimination, and Exclusion (MIT Press, 2024) M. Eger and S Valdez, "From Radical Right to Neo-nationalist," European Political Scientist (2019) M. Eger, M. Hjerm, and P. Velasquez, "What is the Liberalizing Potential of Higher Education? An Analysis of Academic Fields and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Across 32 Countries," The British Journal of Sociology (2025) M. O'Brien and M. Eger, "Suppression, Spikes, and Stigma: How COVID-19 Will Shape International Migration and Hostilities toward It," International Migration Review (2020) L. Yang, M. Eger, and B. Link, "The Human Cost of Politicizing Immigration: Migration Stigma, US Politics, and Health," JAMA (2024) A. Farmer and K. Linos, "Tools to Finance Climate Mobility: An Introduction to the Symposium," American Journal of International Law (2025) A. Farmer, "Disasters in Slow Motion: Why Climate Displacement Tests International Legal Frameworks, and What to Do about it," University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law (2026) J. Bittle, The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration (Simon & Schuster, 2024) G. Vince, Nomad Century: How Climate Migration will Reshape our World (Macmillan, 2022) A. Lustgarten, On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America (Macmillan, 2024) T. Hale, Long Problems: Climate Change and the Challenge of Governing Across Time (Princeton Univ. Press, 2024) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Urban settings are the grounds upon which immigration stress-tests the strength of democratic values, institutions, and practices. In this audio version of a live event hosted by CASBS on May 6, 2026, CASBS board member and Stanford sociologist Tomás Jiménez, Oxford economist and 2025-26 CASBS fellow Ian Goldin, and Welcoming America executive director Rachel Perić discuss what we can learn from the experience of immigrant cities, especially those that intentionally decide to enable newcomers and long-time residents to flourish together. Hosted in partnership with Stanford's Institute for Advancing Just Societies. Watch the event video and read an article about the event: https://casbs.stanford.edu/news/immigrant-cities-and-democracys-future View a photo gallery from the event: https://casbs.stanford.edu/photo-gallery-what-can-immigrant-cities-teach-us-about-democracy View the promotional flyer for this event: https://mailchi.mp/df7b0f4c4589/casbs-event-immigrant-cities-democracy?e=c2d0812d02Learn more about: event moderator Tomás Jiménez: https://sociology.stanford.edu/people/tomas-r-jimenez panelist Ian Goldin: https://iangoldin.org/ panelist Rachel Perić: https://welcomingamerica.org/bio/rachel-peric/ The Institute for Advancing Just Societies: https://justsocieties.stanford.edu/ the Robert A. Scott Lecture: https://casbs.stanford.edu/news/new-lectureship-fund-honors-bob-scott Bob Scott was featured on the Human Centered podcast in December 2022 (ep. 57), "Bob Scott is Trending": https://human-centered.simplecast.com/episodes/robertscott Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Matthew O. Jackson is perhaps the world’s most renowned scholar of the economics of networks; as a 2005-06 CASBS fellow, he wrote most of his still-influential book Social and Economic Networks. In this wide-ranging conversation with 2025-26 CASBS fellow Rajiv Sethi, Jackson discusses his foundational work on strategic modeling of networks, empirical applications on the role of economic connectedness in influencing people’s life trajectories in the U.S., related multi-disciplinary and cross-national work he is undertaking at the Santa Fe Institute, and recent cutting-edge work using large language models to gain insights into human motivations and behaviors. Matthew O. Jackson: Stanford faculty page | Personal website | CASBS page | Wikipedia page | Google Scholar page | National Academy of Sciences bio | Stanford profile | SFI page | NBER working papers | Jackson CV | Rajiv Sethi: Barnard faculty page | Columbia page | CASBS page | Google Scholar page | SFI page | Rajiv's Substack newsletter, Imperfect Information |  Matt Jackson works referenced in this episode: Matthew Jackson and Asher Wolinsky, "A Strategic Model of Social and Economic Networks," Journal of Economic Theory (1996) Matthew Jackson and Alison Watts, "The Evolution of Social and Economic Networks," Journal of Economic Theory (2002) Raj Chetty, Matthew Jackson, et al., "Social Capital I: Measurement and Associations with Economic Mobiliity," Nature (2022) Raj Chetty, Matthew Jackson, et al., "Social Capital II: Determinants of Economic Connectedness," Nature (2022) Chetty, Jackson, et al., Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas (website)Dynamics of Wealth Inequality project (Santa Fe Institute) Matthew Jackson, Social and Economic Networks, Princeton University Press (2008) Matthew Jackson, The Human Network, Penguin Random House (2020) Mei, Yuan, and Jackson, "A Turing Test of Whether AI Chatbots are Behaviorally Similar to Humans," PNAS (2024) Xie, Mei, Yuan, and Jackson, "Using Large Language Models to Categorize Strategic Situations and Decipher Motivations Behind Human Behaviors," PNAS (2025) --- Rajiv Sethi's latest op-ed is "Polymarket Anonymity Must End," Financial Times (May 7, 2026) Subscribe to Rajiv's Substack newsletter, Imperfect Information   Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Human interactions occur in a variety of contexts. When interactions are marked by conflict, misunderstanding, bias, or aggression, 2024-25 CASBS fellow Katy DeCelles illuminates the micro-sociological and social-psychological dynamics that contribute to the sub-optimal interaction outcomes, enabling the formulation of corrective solutions and better organizational design. DeCelles discusses a sampling of her innovative work in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Markoff (CASBS fellow, 2017-18). Katherine (Katy) DeCelles: Univ. of Toronto faculty page | Google Scholar page | Poets & Quants profile |  DeCelles work discussed & relevant resources: "Scale Dichotomization Reduces Customer Racial Discrimination and Income Inequality," Nature 639, 19 February 2025 "Racial Bias Eliminated When Ratings Switch from Five Stars to Thumbs Up or Down," Nature, 19 February 2025"How Gig Platforms Can Mitigate Racial Bias in Ratings," Harvard Business Review, 14 March 2025"Different or Impartial? Actor-Observer Asymmetries in Expressing and Evaluating Sociopolitical Neutrality," Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 154(11), 2025"Understanding the Dynamics of Workplace Violence Can Improve Employee Health and Safety," Rotman School of Management, Univ. of Toronto, 2022 John Markoff: website | John's latest book is Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022). His next book (forthcoming, 2027), will be published by MIT Press.   Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach​Human CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel