USC Dornsife’s top stories written by faculty for The Conversation in 2020
USC Dornsife scholars frequently share their expertise on major topics of the day. An important outlet for these efforts is The Conversation, an independent source for informed commentary and analysis written by the academic community.
The five articles listed here, covering subjects ranging from the Electoral College to belief in demonic sex to the history of states weighing lives against economic losses, garnered thousands of views this year
The Electoral College is surprisingly vulnerable to popular vote changes
Mathematically speaking, the United States’ Electoral College is built to virtually guarantee narrow outcomes for presidential elections, writes Steven Heilman, assistant professor (RTPC) of mathematics.
The Conversation editors also included this story as part of a larger look at the Electoral College.
The COVID-19 crisis exposes just the latest example of persistent racism against Asian Americans, who would do well to ally with other minorities to enact change, argues Adrian De Leon, assistant professor of American studies and ethnicity.
Fast-acting countries cut their coronavirus death rates while U.S. delays cost thousands of lives
Shutting down restaurants and businesses just a few weeks earlier could have saved 50,000 lives in the United States, writes Joshua Aizenman, Robert R. and Katheryn A. Dockson Chair in Economics and International Relations and professor of international relations and economics.
The belief that demons have sex with humans runs deep in Christian and Jewish traditions
A physician’s claim that sex with demons can lead to miscarriages made headlines, but this belief is not an aberration in the history of Judeo-Christian thought, writes Cavan Concannon, associate professor of religion.
As states weigh human lives versus the economy, history suggests the economy often wins
During two 17th-century disease outbreaks, America chose the economic interests of a select few over protecting human health, writes Peter Mancall, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Linda and Harlan Martens Director of the Early Modern Studies Institute, professor of history and anthropology and divisional dean for the social sciences.
For more articles like these, visit USC Dornsife’s Viewpoint webpage or the USC Dornsife page at TheConversation.com.
USC Dornsife faculty who are interested in publicizing their work and expertise by writing for The Conversation can email Jim Key at jameskey@dornsife.usc.edu.