Jal Mehta Jal Mehta is an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Jal received his Ph.D. in sociology and social policy from Harvard and has written on a variety of public policy topics in both scholarly journals and popular outlets, including The American Prospect and TPMCafe. He is currently working on a project, The Chastened Dream, about the limits and possibilities of using social science as a vehicle for achieving social progress. Jal’s interests range from the welfare state to political philosophy to social and cultural change; he is particularly interested in understanding the relationship between our politics and our values.