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.
Hostility for people in opposing political parties in the U.S. has been increasing for decades. Research in political science is at the frontier of more detailed measures of polarization that show what drives those feelings. This research provides insight on what might change the course of the nation.
A multidisciplinary research team in communication and computer science performed a systematic audit of YouTube’s video recommendations in 2021 and 2022 to test how a person’s ideological leaning might affect what videos YouTube’s algorithms recommend to them.