Social scientists have long understood that a child’s environment — in particular growing up in poverty — can have long-lasting effects on their success later in life. What’s less well understood is exactly how.

A new Harvard study is beginning to pry open that black box.

Conducted by Robert Sampson, the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, and Robert Manduca, a doctoral student in sociology and social policy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the study points to a handful of key indicators, including exposure to high levels of lead, violence, and incarceration...

There’s an old saying about a rising tide lifting all boats — and for more than a century, as the gap between the richest and poorest parts of the U.S. shrank, it seemed as though, in America at least, it might be true.

In recent decades, however, the tide has turned.

Over the past 40 years, the gap between rich and poor communities has increased dramatically, and Robert Manduca believes a large measure of the change can be chalked up to rising income inequality.

A Ph.D. student in the Sociology and Social Policy degree program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences,...

On Tuesday, Barbara J. Grosz, the Higgins Professor of Natural Sciences at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), was named a winner in the Responsible Computer Science Challenge, a $2.4 million competition run by some of the biggest names in tech and civil society: Omidyar Network, Mozilla, Schmidt Futures, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

The $150,000 grant Grosz received will support the Embedded EthiCS...

Social change can often seem to move at a snail’s pace, but longtime Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson told a campus audience Sunday that the University and the larger American society have come a long way in embracing diversity in the past 50 years.

“It’s an amazing phenomenon, just stunning progress,” Patterson, John Cowles Professor of Sociology, said of the strides Harvard has made toward becoming more inclusive of African Americans and other minorities.

Recalling the overwhelmingly white campus he encountered when he arrived in 1970, Patterson said that now, “When I go to...