Research & Publications

Faculty Research 

The Weidenbaum Center supports faculty research in the departments of political science, sociology, and economics. The Center provides a wide array of research support through faculty research grants, external grant application assistance, faculty workshops, survey support, student research assistance, and public policy programs. 

The Incubator for Transdisciplinary Futures (ITF), a signature initiative of the Arts & Sciences Strategic Plan, was created to catalyze and support bold collaborations that foster the future of scholarly inquiry. ITF achieves its mission to nurture innovative academic configurations in part by funding multiyear thematic clusters and programmatic grants. These clusters and grants bring together faculty from across Washington University to collaborate on novel ideas, unprecedented learning opportunities, and possible solutions to the world’s most critical issues.


The transdisciplinary collaborations supported by ITF are anticipated to endure in both research and educational models, transforming research infrastructure and enhancing the global visibility of both Arts & Sciences and Washington University as a whole. Betsy Sinclair, ITF co-director, professor of political science, and Weidenbaum Resident Fellow says, "This funding represents the beginning of one of our key goals — building the kind of collaborative community imagined by the faculty as part of the A&S strategic plan.”

Faculty Publications

Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect
You’re Paid What You’re Worth: And Other Myths of the Modern Economy

Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect

By John Inazu

Are you discouraged by our divided, angry culture, where even listening to a different perspective sometimes feels impossible? If so, you're not alone, and it doesn't have to be this way. Learning to Disagree reveals the surprising path to learning how to disagree in ways that build new bridges with our neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones--and help us find better ways to live joyfully in a complex society.

In a tense cultural climate, is it possible to disagree productively and respectfully without compromising our convictions? Spanning a range of challenging issues--including critical race theory, sexual assault, campus protests, and clashes over religious freedom--highly regarded thought leader and law professor John Inazu helps us engage honestly and empathetically with people whose viewpoints we find strange, wrong, or even dangerous.

This groundbreaking, poignant, and highly practical book equips us to:

  • Understand what holds us back from healthy disagreement
  • Learn specific, start-today strategies for dialoguing clearly and authentically
  • Move from stuck, broken disagreements to mature, healthy disagreements
  • Cultivate empathy as a core skill for our personal lives and our whole society

You’re Paid What You’re Worth: And Other Myths of the Modern Economy

By Jake Rosenfeld

A myth-busting book challenges the idea that we’re paid according to objective criteria and places power and social conflict at the heart of economic analysis.

Your pay depends on your productivity and occupation. If you earn roughly the same as others in your job, with the precise level determined by your performance, then you’re paid market value. And who can question something as objective and impersonal as the market? That, at least, is how many of us tend to think. But according to Jake Rosenfeld, we need to think again.