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The program in United States Studies stimulates research and reflection on problems in U.S. society, politics, and culture by placing contemporary policy issues in historical, comparative, and global perspective. It seeks to understand the role of the United States as an important node in the transnational circulation of people, goods, and ideas.

United States Studies’ current concerns include immigration, the fiscal crisis, sustainable agriculture, the social contract, work-family reconciliation, racial and gender equality, education, and democracy and security. In recent years, the program has hosted conferences, panels and colloquia on topics such as: women, migration, and care work; family values and political polarization; the U.S. welfare state in comparative perspective; the future of the university/universities of the future; military families; and law and security after 9/11.

The program has held discussions of books such as Bettye Collier-Thomas, Jesus, Jobs and Justice: African American Women and Religion; Beth Bailey, America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force; Joan Williams, Reshaping the Work-Family Debate: How Men and Class Matter; Victor Ferrall, Jr., Liberal Arts at the Brink; Andrei Markovits, Gaming the World: How Sports are Reshaping Global Politics and Culture; Samuel Moyn,The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History; and Jeffrey Alexander, The Performance of Politics: Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power,