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For the past six decades, Berkeley’s Sociology Department has consistently been ranked among the world’s top sociology departments. Our graduate program is ranked #1 in the latest U.S. News and World Report, and our undergrad degree is currently the best in the US according to College Factual and features on Grad Reports’ Best College List 2020.
Prof. Einstein served graduate students as a model of prudence in remaining unfashionably true to the grand…
State and Society in the Taiwan Miracle
Translated into Chinese and Japanese.
Departmental Colloquium Series
Amy Lerman "Engaging for IMPACT: Evaluating Innovations in Democratic Reform"
Monday, September 21, 2026 - 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Blumer Room - 402 Social Sciences Building
Abstract:
A growing interest in collaborative governance has led to exciting new projects at both the state and local levels, aiming to expand and improve civic engagement by bringing communities more fully into public-sector decision-making. These innovations in co-governance will be critical to bolstering democratic institutions and practices, with the potential to reduce harmful polarization and rebuild trust in democracy. But we will need intentional design, careful implementation, and systematic research to ensure that new models of engagement do not reproduce existing inequalities in participation or produce largely symbolic interactions between government and communities that do not lead to real or meaningful reform.
Bio
Amy E. Lerman researches public policy, public opinion, and political behavior, especially as they relate to civic life and social inequality in America. She is the author of several award-winning books, including The Modern Prison Paradox and Arresting Citizenship. Her most recent book, Good Enough for Government Work, examines how perceptions of government shape citizens’ attitudes toward privatization. Professor Lerman’s scholarship can also be found in a wide variety of academic journals and has been featured in numerous media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, CNN and NPR. In addition to her academic work, Lerman has served as a speechwriter and communications consultant for national nonprofits and members of the United States Congress, a community organizer in Latin America and Southeast Asia, and a faculty member of the Prison University Project (now Mount Tamalpais College) at San Quentin State Prison. She has also served as an Advisory Board member to the United States Federal District Count on Plata v. Brown, and as a Senior Strategist for Data-Driven Innovation to the California Government Operations Agency. She has been awarded a Carnegie Fellowship for her work on political polarization, a W.E.B Du Bois Fellowship for her research on racial disparities, and in 2023 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Lerman is the Founder and Director of the Possibility Lab at UC Berkeley, where she partners with state and local government to design, pilot, and scale new models of civic participation for public-sector problem solving. All projects are co-designed and carried out with community and government partners in order to ensure that innovations are feasible in the short term, scalable in the future, and make meaningful progress towards systemic change.