The American Dream as both idea and ideal, for all its complications, has had an undeniably powerful role in shaping values and aspirations in the U.S. and far beyond its borders. We spoke with faculty and students in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis who represent a wealth of knowledge and perspectives that help us think about American society’s past, present and continuing potential.
Archaeologists have long thought that monumental architecture were products of societies with power structures, including social hierarchy, inequality and controlled labor forces. In new research, researchers report evidence of monumental structures built by hunter-gatherer groups at Kaillachuro, a collection of burial mounds located in the Titicaca Basin of the Peruvian Andes.
In a new study, people who were encouraged to follow mainstream news organizations on Instagram and WhatsApp were better at identifying true from false news stories. News followers were also more aware of important events and had more trust in news media and journalists.
New research from the University of California, Davis, has found that toddlers who tend to look more closely at and compare paired images during a memory task are more aware of the accuracy of their own memories a year later. This finding connects the earliest process of seeking information with the developing ability to judge the accuracy of memories.
Historian Ali Anooshahr’s new book Slavery in the Early Mughal World: The Life and Thoughts of Jawhar Aftabachi (1520s–1580s) upends conventional thinking about the extent of slavery in the Mughal Empire. It also charts the rise of individualism in India, an idea previously considered exclusive to Western civilization.
Philosopher Hannah Tierney studies the idea of blameworthiness and what it means to successfully make amends. Her research focuses on the reparative process that unfolds after someone causes harm. It also offers insight into how to ease burdens of national guilt that might affect people across a society.
The 2025 Comm Horizons conference at UC Davis, hosted by the Department of Communication from May 16-18 2025, covered some of the most pressing issues about media and society. The conference showcased visiting luminaries in the field with the deep and diverse expertise of faculty in the College of Letters and Science.
UC Davis economist Òscar Jordà looks back at his economic estimates at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national fiscal response that sought to keep jobs and tame inflation during an unprecedented global crisis.
Drawing on interviews with former U.S. migrants living in Mexico City, The Returned is an illuminating account of the experience of migration to the United States followed by return to Mexico City. The book reveals how those two experiences of migration are indelibly intertwined, with lasting consequences for migrants and their families
