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Thinking Allowed

BBC Radio 4

What does it mean to grow older in Britain today? Laurie Taylor explores the changing realities of later life, from health and independence to inequality and support.Professor Judith Phillips OBE, Professor of Gerontology at the University of Stirling, is the former Research Director of the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge - a major national programme which brought together researchers, businesses and communities to develop new ways of supporting people to remain active, independent and socially connected as they age. She describes projects including older people using virtual reality headsets to help design better layouts and living spaces in their homes. You can find out more about that here https://www.deshca.co.uk/resources/Dr Kingsley Purdam, of the University of Manchester, discusses research done with his colleague Jill Ebrey, which examined the quieter, often hidden experience of financial insecurity in later life, and the barriers that prevent many older people from accessing the support they need. Producer:  Natalia Fernandez
Series Editor:  Robyn Read

Ageing and Society

What does it really mean to give something away - or to buy something second-hand? And what, in the process, are we choosing not to see?
Laurie Taylor talks to Gaby Harris, Sociologist and Lecturer in Fashion Cultures at Manchester Metropolitan University, about her research on teenage girls and pocket money. Drawing on interviews with 15–17-year-olds, she shows that “pocket money” is far from simple.  From parental allowances to part-time work and reselling clothes: how is money is negotiated within families, shaped by rules, expectations and inequalities, and how do young people use it to carve out autonomy in their social lives?Triona Fitton, Senior Lecturer in Sociology from the University of Kent, asks questions about charity shops and second-hand consumption. Drawing on research inside charity shops, Triona explores the tension between charitable ideals and commercial pressures, describing a “quiet economy” of hidden labour and everyday decision-making. While donating or buying second-hand can feel virtuous, she argues that this can obscure a more complex global system where large quantities of our second hand goods are dumped or burned, with environmental and social consequences.Producer:  Natalia Fernandez
Series Editor:  Robyn Read

Charity Shops and Pocket Money

How have South Asian communities in Britain fought for rights, dignity and belonging - and what can that history teach us today?Laurie Taylor explores the overlooked histories of labour struggle, resistance and political activism among South Asian communities in Britain. From early anti-colonial networks to the strikes and campaigns of the 1970s and 80s, the programme traces how successive generations confronted discrimination while shaping British society.He is joined by Taj Ali, writer and historian whose forthcoming book 'Come What May, We’re Here to Stay' (publishing in September) charts more than four centuries of South Asian presence in Britain. Drawing on oral histories and archival research, he traces a long tradition of workers campaigning for better pay and conditions, communities organising against racism, and alliances forming across movements. Ali reflects on tensions within the labour movement and on moments of solidarity, including the Grunwick dispute and links forged during the miners’ strike.Also joining the discussion is Aleena Din, Simon Research Fellow from the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on Huddersfield as a local site of resistance, where communities responded to racism, fascism and deindustrialisation. Through archival work and “witness seminars,” she reconstructs networks of support while also revealing the disagreements and competing ambitions that shaped them.The programme highlights how these struggles unfolded not only in major cities but also in smaller industrial towns, challenging London-centric accounts of race and activism. It also brings into focus the role of women, from grassroots organising to leading disputes such as Grunwick, where South Asian women challenged both racism and sexism at work.Producer:  Natalia Fernandez
Editor:  Robyn Read

Strikes, Solidarity and South Asian Britain

What happens when we tell the story of modern Britain as part of a much bigger, global history?  Professor Kate Pickett OBE has recently been appointed as the UK's first-ever Professor for the Public Understanding of Social Science at the University of York.  She tells Laurie about the importance of her new role at a time when social inequalities are starker than ever.  Les Back  (Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow) and Gurminder Bhambra (Professor of Historical Sociology at the University of Sussex) continue the discussion on the crucial nature of sociology in contemporary society and consider the ways in which it can help us rethink the past.As the current President of the British Sociological Association, Les Back reflects on its seventy-five years of existence and reflects on a discipline that has often felt under pressure. From early post-war concerns with the welfare state to ideas inspired by feminism and anti-racism, he traces sociology’s shifting priorities - and argues for a more open, inclusive “sociological imagination”, alive to the importance of community in an increasingly individualised world.Gurminder Bhambra argues that rather than simply “decolonising” knowledge, we need to put colonial histories back at the centre of how we understand society. From the global networks that made the Industrial Revolution possible to the overlooked contributions of colonial subjects to British prosperity, she explores how these hidden connections continue to shape debates about migration, belonging and inequality.  
She has co-edited and contributed to a new book - The Modern World After Colonialism, Remaking the Social Sciences. Producer: Natalia Fernandez
Editor:  Robyn Read

Rethinking Sociology: Empire, Knowledge and Connection

As a new World Cup approaches, what does it mean that gambling now sits so close to the heart of football - and how far has the game travelled from its local roots?Laurie Taylor explores two distinct ways of understanding football’s place in contemporary society. He’s joined by Darragh McGee from the University of Bath, whose book Imitation Games charts the rapid rise of gambling and its growing entanglement with the sport. McGee reflects on how this shift has been normalised, particularly among younger supporters, and considers the broader social consequences of an increasingly immersive and continuous online gambling environment.Adam Dinsmore from Manchester Metropolitan University's Institute of Sport focuses not on football’s global reach but on its local meanings. Drawing on research with supporters in post-industrial towns such as Blackburn and Middlesbrough, he examines how football clubs continue to function as powerful symbols of place-identity. In communities shaped by de-industrialisation, where traditional forms of work and collective life have eroded, the local club often remains one of the last enduring institutions linking past and present.  Producer:  Natalia Fernandez
Editor:  Robyn Read

Football and gambling

What does it mean to undertake "ethical" research in complex and changing social settings?Marion Vannier, from the University of Manchester, uses diaries and letters written by prisoners in her research with older men serving life sentences. Her work, including ‘Project Hope’, offers an insight into the experience of ageing behind bars, showing how ideas such as “hope” aren't always a positive.  She discusses the difficult questions about trust, representation and responsibility when putting prisoners’ own voices centre stage and in the public domain. Helen Busby is an independent research Ethics Advisor who has edited a new collection of essays Reframing Qualitative Research Ethics.  She argues ethics cannot be reduced to fixed rules or procedural checklists, but are shaped by negotiation, reflection and the realities of research practice. The book brings together detailed case studies of dilemmas encountered in the field, alongside proposals for reform, including a more flexible review processes, discipline-specific approaches and a broader emphasis on research integrity. Producer: Natalia Fernandez
Editor: Robyn Read

Ethics in sociological research

What does Émile Durkheim’s 1897 study of suicide tell us about the social conditions that shape whether life feels worth living and how does a current project add to our understanding?Laurie Taylor is joined by Alexander Oaten, from the University of Lincoln, and Sarah Huque, from the University of Edinburgh who are involved in Discovering Liveability: Co-producing Alternatives to Suicide Prevention - a seven-year Wellcome Trust funded collaboration.  This sets out to challenge the way suicide prevention is usually framed.  Rather than focusing on moments of crisis, the project asks a different question: how can we create societies in which life feels more liveable and what insights can you gain from people who have experienced suicidal thoughts?Producer: Natalia Fernandez
Editor:  Robyn ReadIf you’re suffering distress or despair and need support, including urgent support, a list of organisations that can help is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline

Suicide, Society and Liveability

What does an 18-month study of residents on a housing estate in southern England tell us about living with debt? Laurie Taylor talks to Ryan Davey from Cardiff University about his new book The Personal Life of Debt - Coercion, Subjectivity and Inequality in Britain, which tries to understand how debt affects people emotionally as well as economically.  Laurie is also joined by Sarah Kerr (LSE International Inequalities Institute), whose book, Wealth, Poverty and Enduring Inequality - Let’s Talk Wealtherty, investigates the stubborn persistence of inequality in the UK. Kerr argues that the gap between top and bottom earners has become entrenched and normalised across generations. Producer:  Natalia Fernandez

Debt and Wealth Inequality

What can the worlds of mountaineering and endurance running reveal about changing ideas of freedom, identity and the body? Laurie Taylor talks to Sarah Lonsdale, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at City, University of London, about her new book Wildly Different - her study of early 20th‑century women who sought autonomy through outdoor adventure. She focuses on the mountaineer Dorothy Pilley, whose Alpine achievements and reflective writing challenged prevailing assumptions about femininity and physical capability. In 'Dirtbag Dreams', Carl Morris (sociologist, historian and social psychologist from the University of Lancashire) explores the history of mountain, ultra and trail running in the US and Britain from its origins right up until today. He asks if the ever-increasing popularity of these sports risk making them overly commercial and corporate? A keen fell runner himself, Morris examines the distinctive values that shape these endurance communities, including ideas of authenticity, self‑sufficiency and the pursuit of physical extremity.  Producer:  Natalia Fernandez

Extreme Sports

What explains the apparent decline of grand theory in sociology, and what does this shift mean for the discipline today? Laurie Taylor asks whether sociologists are now less inclined to engage with large, overarching theoretical frameworks, and explores the reasons behind this change.He is joined by Professor Les Back (University of Glasgow) and Professor Imogen Tyler (University of Lancaster), who consider whether theory still resonates within contemporary sociology and, if so, which thinkers remain most influential. Who are the discipline’s most cited theorists today, and which grand figures - such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Foucault - continue to shape sociological thought?It may be argued that theory remains stronger within feminist and women’s studies traditions, but what does this suggest about long‑standing questions concerning the gendered character of theory itself?Laurie Taylor and guests set out to consider which new or emerging theoretical approaches offer fresh ways of understanding familiar social phenomena, and whether they signal a transformation in the discipline or simply a reworking of older sociological concerns.Producer:  Natalia Fernandez

The demise of Grand Theory?

What do we learn when a city’s future is defined not by rapid change, but by who leaves and who stays? Laurie Taylor looks at two neighbourhoods in different countries, during different periods in history and explores the human cost of gentrification - and what happens when the project fails.Sharon Cornelissen (sociologist and Director of Housing at the Consumer Federation of America) discusses her latest book, "The Last House on the Block - Black Homeowners, White Homesteaders, and Failed Gentrification in Detroit', her study of Detroit’s Brightmoor neighbourhood. After living as a homeowner in Brightmoor for several years, Cornelissen argues that American cities should look more closely at depopulation and disinvestment because she experienced firsthand what it is like to live somewhere with a very small population and a distinct lack of both public and private investment.In his new book, "Songs of Seven Dials - an Intimate History of 1920s and 1930s London", Matt Houlbrook (Professor of Cultural History at the University of Birmingham) writes about the history of the central London district in the interwar years through the story of a 1927 libel trial involving a Sierra Leonean café owner and a nationalist newspaper.  Through this personal story, he reveals the tensions around race, class and “improvement” that shaped the area’s future. Seven Dials near Covent Garden emerges as a place where business interests collide with local residents and where money and influence win out over the rights of individuals — early examples of the pressures now associated with gentrification a century later.Producer:  Natalia Fernandez

Gentrification in Detroit and London

The winner of the British Society of Criminology Book Award in 2025 was Kate Herrity. Her study looks at the way our different senses contribute to the experience of prison life and is called Sound, Order and Survival in Prison: The Rhythms and Routines of HMP Midtown. Her research looks at the way for many prisoners, listening becomes a vital survival practice.Kate Gooch is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Bath. In her new book, 'Prison Violence - The Search for Recognition and Respect', she analyses the nature, causes and culture of prison victimisation in an English young offender institution for men aged 18-21 years old. Her research examines how hierarchies develop, how fear circulates, and how both staff and young men negotiate constantly shifting landscapes of threat, reputation and authority.Laurie Taylor presents. Producer: Natalia Fernandez

Prison violence, sound and survival

How does the environment we move through shape the way we see and experience the world? Laurie Taylor talks to Alex Prior (London South Bank University) about his research inside Westminster, where he walked alongside MPs and staff to uncover how the corridors of power feel different depending on who you are and what your job is. 
James Fletcher from the University of Bath worked on a project exploring what it’s like to navigate the bus and tram routes of central Manchester while living with dementia. He looked at how familiar streets and transport systems change when memory and mobility are shifting and the implications of this. What is the value of research conducted in this way and what are the downsides? Producer: Natalia Fernandez

The go-along research method

How did the arrival of colour and film technology transform cinema and its cultural politics? Laurie Taylor explores the intertwined histories of technology, aesthetics, and identity.Swarnavel Eswaran, filmmaker and scholar at Michigan State University, introduces us to the remarkable story of Kodak Krishnan – Eastman Kodak’s “man from the East.” Krishnan played a pivotal role in bringing American film technology to India during the mid-20th century, a period when cinema was becoming a powerful medium for shaping ideas of modernity and national pride.Kirsty Sinclair Dootson, Associate Professor in the History of Art department at University College London, is one of the organisers of the Bombay Colour Research Network. Her book The Rainbow’s Gravity asked how new colour media transformed the way Britain saw itself and its empire between 1856 and 1968.  Her research also examines how colour technologies – from early tinting processes to the vibrant palettes of Bollywood musicals became part of debates over race, class, and cultural representation.
Kirsty Sinclair Dootson is one of the academics who has been a New Generation Thinker, on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to share research on radio. Producer: Natalia Fernandez

Colour in Film

DOGS – Laurie Taylor explores the making of the modern companion animal, from working animals to pampered pets.  Chris Pearson, Professor of Environmental History at the University of Liverpool, charts the changing fortunes of hunting dogs, street dogs and show dogs, as they moved from the rural to the urban, shedding utilitarian roles to become cherished family members. Also, Mariam Motamedi Fraser, Honorary Research Fellow at University College, London, asks if dogs belong with humans and the natural bond is less natural than we assume. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Dogs

Laurie Taylor talks to  Simon Jarrett, Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, about the social history of people with learning disabilities, from 1700 to the present days. Using evidence from civil and criminal court-rooms, joke books, slang dictionaries, novels, art and caricature, he explores the explosive intermingling of ideas about intelligence and race, while bringing into sharp focus the lives of people often seen as the most marginalised in society. They’re joined by Magdalena Mikulak, a Research Fellow in Health at Lancaster University who has researched the way the term ‘behaviours that challenge others’ which are attributed to 20% of those with learning disabilities, can stigmatise and exclude people from society,Producer: Jayne Egerton

Learning Disabilities

Laurie Taylor talks to Louise Ryan, Professor of Sociology at the London Metropolitan University, about her oral history of the Irish nurses who were the backbone of the NHS for many years.  By the 1960s approximately 30,000 Irish-born nurses were working across the NHS, constituting around 12% of all nursing staff. From the rigours of training to the fun of dancehalls, she explores their life experiences as nurses and also as Irish migrants, including those times when they encountered anti Irish racism. They’re joined by  Bronwen Walter, Emerita Professor of Irish Diaspora Studies at Anglia Ruskin University, who discusses the way that Irish migration offers an unusual opportunity  to explore wider questions about the experience of immigrants and how ethnic identities persist or change over time. Producer: Jayne Egerton

The Irish in the UK

Laurie Taylor talks to Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs at The New School in New York City about her research into the propaganda formulas deployed by Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin over the last two decades.  As the great granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1964, she offers personal, as well as political insights, into these developments, drawing on previous periods of oppression in Russian history. She argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has intensified 'hard' propaganda, leading to a pervasive presence of military images in every day life and the rehabilitation of Josef Stalin, the former dictator of the Soviet Union, as a symbol of Russian power. She suggests that lessons from past eras, described by such Soviet classics as Alexander Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, can offer small grounds for optimism and hope, as ordinary people absorb alternative narratives. How else to explain the fact that George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, has been a bestseller for many years and has seen a surge in popularity since the start of the war in Ukraine?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Russian Propaganda

Laurie Taylor talks to Molly Conisbee, Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath, about her ‘people’s’ history of mortality, beyond queens and aristocrats. From the plague pits to grave-robberies and wakes, she explores how cycles of dying, death and disposal have shaped our society. What did it mean to die well in the past, what does it mean now? Also, Chao Fang, Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool, talks about his study of the meaning of a good death in China & how it differs from western notions which centre the dying person’s wishes rather than family harmony.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Death

Seth Rockman, Associate Professor of History at Brown University, talks to Laurie Taylor about his study into the stories of the plantation goods which reveal how the American national economy was once organised by slavery. He tracks the  shoes made by Massachusetts farm women that found their way to the feet of a Mississippi slave and the entrepreneurs that envisioned fortunes to be made from “planter’s hoes”.  Also, Lea David,  Assistant Professor in the School of Sociology, University College Dublin, describes the emotional force of everyday items found at the sites of atrocities, from a shoe to a broken watch and victims’ garments. Personal property recovered from places of death including concentration camps, mass graves, and prisons have become staples of memorial museums. How do these objects take on such power, and what are the benefits and pitfalls of deploying them for political purposes? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Objects and Stories

Laurie Taylor is joined by Jennifer Chudy, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College, Boston, who discusses her pioneering exploration of racial sympathy. She looks at the reasons why racial inequality in America prompts distress amongst some white people, but not others, and why that sympathy does not necessarily translate into solidarity and political action. Andrea Sangiovanni, Professor of Philosophy at King's College, London explores the nature of solidarity and how definitions have changed. Calls for solidarity are heard everywhere but what does it mean, in practice, and how is it distinct from altruism, justice and fellow-feeling?  Producer: Jayne Egerton

Solidarity

Laurie Taylor talks to Helen Charman, Fellow and Assistant College Lecturer in English at Clare College, University of Cambridge, about her study of mothers fighting for alternative futures for themselves and their children. Is motherhood an inherently political state, one that poses challenges to various status quos? Also, Caitlin Killian - Professor of Sociology, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey argues that US mums are held to ever higher standards and now subject to an expanding list of offences -  from falling down the stairs while pregnant to letting a child spend time alone in a park - which were not seen as criminal behaviours a generation ago. Are mothers likelier to be held accountable than fathers? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Motherhood

Laurie Taylor talks to Ivan Markovic, Lecturer in Human Geography at Durham University, about the unique social atmosphere surrounding tobacco use in modern Britain,  from its encouragement as part of the Home Front ‘mood management’ during the Second World War to the impact of smoking on 1980s workplace regulations and the UK ban on its use in public places in 2007. Does smoking still play a significant part in the British cultural imagination? Also, Tricia Starks,  Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, discusses cigarettes and the Soviet smoking habit. How did the USSR become the first mass smoking society whilst simultaneously opposing this quintessential capitalist product?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Smoking

Laurie Taylor talks to Fatima Rajina, Senior Legacy in Action Research Fellow at the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, about changing perceptions of dress among British Bangladeshi Muslim men in London’s East End.  Why has the thobe, a garment traditionally associated with the Arab States, come to signify a universal Muslim identity? And why have Muslim men's clothing choices attracted so little scrutiny, compared to Muslim women's? Also, Teleica Kirkland, Lecturer in the Cultural and Historical Studies Department at the London College of Fashion, explores the performative elegance of the Windrush generation, whose respectable presentation was a route to seeking dignity and respect in British society. What were the limitations of using fashion as a way to gain acceptance?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Dress Culture

Laurie Taylor talks to Vron Ware, Visiting Professor at the Gender Institute of the  LSE,  about the reality of living next to a huge army community in the UK. Talking to both sides of the divide, she explores the  impact of the sprawling military presence on Salisbury Plain,  an area of British countryside which is home to rare plants and wildlife. Is military occupation a positive asset in terms of conservation and ecology? Also,  Sunaura Taylor, Assistant Professor in the Division of Society and Environment at  UC Berkeley, describes environmental damage below the ground in Tucson Arizona  and its ripple effects through the largely Mexican American community living above. Producer: Jayne Egerton

ECOLOGY

Laurie Taylor talks to the writer, Dan Hancox, about the part that crowds play in our lives and how they made the modern world. 
From Notting Hill carnival-goers and football matches to M25 raves and violent riots, what do we know about the madness of the multitude? Also, Lisa Mueller, Associate Professor of Political Science at Macalaster College, Minnesota, asks why protests succeed or fail. Examining data from 97 protests, she finds that more cohesive crowds are key. Drilling down into two British protests, Occupy London and Take Back Parliament,  protesters who united around a common goal won more concessions than ones with multiple aims. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Crowds

Laurie Taylor talks to Nina Edwards, the author of a new study which unravels the intimate narratives woven into the fabric of our most personal garments.  Is there a profound and surprising significance to the garments we wear beneath our outer clothing? Also, Shaun Cole,  Associate Professor in Fashion at the University of Southampton, considers the  enduring question aimed at men over the choice of boxers or briefs and explores the future direction of men’s undergarments.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Underwear

Wealth: Laurie Taylor talks to Brooke Harrington, Professor of Economic Sociology at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, about the world of offshore finance, how it works and its impact, globally.  As part of her research, she earned her own wealth management certificate and spent nearly eight years interviewing other professionals in the field, as well as visiting the 18 most popular tax havens in the world—from Mauritius, off the southeast coast of Africa, to the Cook Islands in the middle of the South Pacific - observing and interviewing the experts who keep the secrets and protect the fortunes of the global ultra-rich. Does offshore finance have costs for all of us at a time when democracies seem under threat and deepening inequalities are destabilising the world?  Also, Guido Alfani,  Professor of Economic History at Bocconi University, Milan, explores a 1000-year history of the super-rich in the West from the medieval period to today. He finds that their position within society has long been fragile and precarious.  How have the uber rich been viewed by society, over time, and are they ripe for a re-appraisal?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Wealth

When, where, and who gets to touch and be touched, and who decides? How does touch bring us closer together or push us apart? These are urgent contemporary questions, but they have their origins in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain. Laurie Taylor talks to Simeon Koole, Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and History at the University of Bristol about his new study of the way in which the crowded city compelled new discussions about touch, as people crammed into subway cars, skirted criminals in London's dense fogs and visited tea shops, all the while negotiating the boundaries of personal space. How did these historical encounters shape and transform our understanding of physical contact into the present day? Also, digital touch. Carey Jewitt Professor of Technology at the Institute of Education, London, explores the way technology is transforming our experience of touch. Touch matters. It is fundamental to how we know ourselves and each other, and it is central to how we communicate.  So how will the the digital touch embedded in many technologies, from wearable devices and gaming hardware to tactile robots and future technologies, change our sense of connection with each other. What would it be like if we could hug or touch digitally across distance?  How might we establish trust or protect our privacy and safety? How might radically different forms of touch impact our relationships and the future?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Touch

Laurie Taylor explores the fascination for true crime stories. He's joined by Jennifer Fleetwood, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at City, University of London, whose latest work considers the remarkable rise in the number of people who speak publicly about their experience of crime. Personal accounts used to be confined to the police station and the courtroom, but today bookshops heave with autobiographies by prisoners, criminals, police and barristers while streaming platforms host hours of interviews so how easy is it for the 'truth' to come out?Louise Wattis, Assistant Professor  in the Department: Social Sciences ·at Northumbria University, Newcastle looks at the skyrocketing interest in true crime as a form of popular entertainment.  What do we know about the appeal of 'Hardman' biographies of violent criminals, a hugely popular subgenre, particularly for male readers?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Crime Stories

After the Second World War, a vast experiment took place in which adventure playgrounds transformed bombsites and waste ground in the UK, creating opportunities for children, beyond the sanitised safety of more conventional play spaces with swings and see saws.  Laurie Taylor talks to Ben Highmore, Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex about the range of people whose celebration of children's imaginative capacities re-invented the notion of play, from Northern Europe to  North America.  Designers, social reformers,  and even anarchists,  saw these sites of fun as the foundation for the creation of citizens and agents of social change. What remains of those post war playgrounds, in the here and now, and what can the astonishing ambition of those spaces tell us about the power of play in an age of risk aversion?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Playgrounds

Laurie Taylor lifts the lid on a sector of the economy associated with wealth, innovation & genius. Mark Graham,  Professor of Internet Geography at the Oxford Internet Institute, uncovers the hidden human labour powering AI. His study, based on hundreds of interviews and thousands of hours of fieldwork,  is the first to tell the stories of this army of underpaid and exploited workers. Beneath the promise of a frictionless technology that will bring riches to humanity,  the interviews he has conducted reveal a grimmer reality involving a precarious global workforce of millions labouring under often appalling conditions.  Also,  Paula Bialski, Associate Professor for Digital Sociology at the University of St. Gallen in St. Gallen, Switzerland, discusses her research with software developers at a non-flashy, run-of-the-mill tech company. Beyond the awesome images of the Gods of Silicone Valley, she finds that technology breaks due to human-related issues and staff are often engaged in patch up and repair, rather than dreaming up the next killer app.  Producer: Jayne Egerton

Tech Workers

Laurie Taylor talks to Ann Murcott, Honorary Professorial Research Associate, at SOAS, University of London about the origins and development of food packaging, from  tin cans and glass jars to bottles and plastic trays. How central is packaging to global food systems and should we be concerned about wasteful packaging ? Also, Anastacia Marx de Salcedo, offers a spirited defence of processed food from a feminist, economic, and public-health perspective.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Food Systems

Laurie Taylor talks to Jana Costas, Chair of People, Work & Management at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany about the unseen cleaners beyond  the shiny surface of Potsdamer Platz, a designer micro-city within Berlin's city centre. Behind the scenes they pick up cigarette butts from pavements, scrape chewing gum from marble floors and scrub public toilets, long before white-collar workers, consumers and tourists enter the complex. How do they feel about work which some would stigmatise as degrading? How do they salvage a sense of personal dignity? Also,  Katie Bailey, Professor of Work and Employment at Kings College, London unpacks her analysis of accounts related by nurses, creative artists and lawyers as to why they find their work meaningful. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Meaning of Work

Laurie Taylor talks to Helen Sampson, Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, about her voyage into the lives and work of seafarers. 25 years of fieldwork on merchant cargo ships has given her an unusual insight into the changing realities of life onboard and the gap between romantic notions of sea travel and the harsher realities -  from isolation from friends and family to the monotony of daily life, increasing regulation and surveillance.  Also, Sara Caputo, Senior Research Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge, illuminates the way in which the history of mapping the oceans reflects the creation of the modern world as we know it, via centuries of trading, exploring and conquering. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Sea Travelling

Is misogyny implicated in radicalisation, across the political spectrum? Laurie Taylor talks to Elizabeth Pearson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Royal Holloway, University of London about her primary research among two of Britain’s key extremist movements: the banned Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, and those networked to it; and the anti-Islam radical right, including the English Defence League, For Britain and Britain First.  Also, Katherine Williams, a former post-doctoral student in Politics and International Relations at Cardiff University, explores women's engagement with the far right and queries the notion that women do not support such politics, given the contemporary resurgence and global electoral successes of the far right, in its many guises. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Gender and Radicalisation

Yvonne Jewkes, Professor of Criminology at the University of Bath, talks to Laurie Taylor about the design of prisons and the importance of an architecture of hope which nurtures the possibility of rehabilitation, from Limerick to Norway. They’re joined by Lynne McMordie, Research Associate at the Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research at Heriot-Watt University, whose research suggests that the congregate nature of hostels and shelters for homeless people often compound the problems of residents, rather than providing a safe space or route to secure housing. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Architecture and Hope

Laurie Taylor talks to Becca Voelcker, Lecturer in the Art Department at Goldsmiths, University of London, about her research into the relationship between sight and power. Everyday life is full of moments where we are seen, often without our knowledge, even in the virtual world, where cookie trails and analytics make us visible to profit making companies.  Going back in time, Jeremy Bentham's panopticon depended on seeing its occupants to control them.  If we cannot control who sees us today are we also being controlled? How does that square with the many moments when being seen is also a means of social recognition?Also,  David Lyon, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Law at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario explores the surveillance which permeates all aspects of our lives today. Every click on the keyboard, every contact with a doctor or the police, each time we walk under a video camera or pass through a security check we are identified, traced, and tracked. So how does surveillance make people visible, how did it grow to its present size and prevalence, and what are the social and personal costs?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Sight and Power

The Stethoscope and the X-ray: Laurie Taylor explores two medical innovations which have achieved iconic status. Nicole Lobdell, Assistant Professor of English at DePauw University, charts the when, where, and how of our use of X-rays, what meanings we give them and what metaphors we make out of them. Is there a paradox to living in an age where we rely on X-rays to expose hidden threats to our health and security but also fear the way they may expose us?
Also, Tom Rice, Associate Professor in Anthropology at the University of Exeter investigates a scientific instrument which has become the symbol of medicine itself. What makes the stethoscope such a familiar yet charismatic object? 
Producer: Jayne Egerton

Medical Icons

Urban baristas in a US city and Chinese managed coffee bars in Italy.Laurie Taylor talks to Geoffrey Moss, Professor of Instruction in the Department of Sociology, Temple University, about the subcultural lives of hipsters who are employed in Philadelphia. Such young people have taken low-wage service sector jobs, despite their middle-class origins and educational background, because they enjoy the city's hipster subculture. Working within cool, noncorporate coffee shops with like minded colleagues blurs lines between work and leisure.  For those that are artistic, barista life has provided a flexible work schedule which allows time for creative pursuits. But this new research suggests that these subcultural lives are now greatly diminished by class, race and gentrification.  Also, Grazia Ting Deng,  Lecturer at Brandeis University's Department of Anthropology, explores the paradox of “Chinese espresso". The coffee bar is a cornerstone of Italian urban life, with city residents sipping espresso at more than 100,000 of these local businesses throughout the country. So why is espresso in Italy increasingly prepared by Chinese baristas in Chinese-managed coffee bars?  Deng investigates the rapid spread of Chinese-owned coffee bars since the Great Recession of 2008 and draws on her extensive ethnographic research in Bologna.  She finds that longtime residents have come, sometimes resentfully, to regard Chinese expresso as a new normal and immigrants have assumed traditional roles, even as they are regarded as racial others. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Coffee Culture

Do  today's power brokers  correspond to the familiar caricatures of old? Laurie Taylor talks to Aaron Reeves, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Oxford, who has delved into the profiles and careers of over 125,000 members of the British elite from the late 1890s to today, as well as interviewing over 200 leading figures from diverse backgrounds.  Were they born to rule, travelling from Eton to Oxbridge?  Do they espouse different values from their earlier variants? And are those born into the top 1% just as likely to get into the elite today as they were 125 years ago?  Also, Rachel Louise Stenhouse, Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University looks at private school entry to Oxbridge. By examining a bespoke intervention in a private school in England, she sheds new light on how students are advantaged when applying to elite universities, finding that  applicants need to demonstrate that ‘they can think’ and ‘perform’ under pressure.  But is an ease of performance evidence of knowledge and skills or, more often, of educational privilege? Producer: Jayne Egerton

The British Elite

In 1986 in Gateshead the MetroCentre opened on the site of a former power station.   Laurie Taylor talks to Emma Casey, Reader in Sociology at the University of York  about a new study which charts the history and the impact of this mall which created space for more than 300 shops.  They're joined by Katie Appleford, Senior Lecturer in Consumer Behaviour at University for the Creative Arts, London and researcher into UK mothers' shopping habits post-COVID. Has the promise of shopping, as represented by the Metro Centre, faltered in the wake of the pandemic?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Shopping

The swimming pool: Laurie Taylor explores its iconic role in our culture, as well as its unspoken rules, routines and rituals. Piotr Florczyk, forming swimming champion and Assistant Professor of Global Literary Studies at the University of Washington, considers the allure of an azure pool and its place in our cultural imagination, from the Hollywood movie, Sunset Boulevard, to David Hockney's pool paintings. He also asks 'who has access to the pool' and charts North America's shifting attitudes towards race and recreation which turned public bathing into an explosive issue, one leading to violence, segregation and the flight to white suburbia.  What is the future of the pool given water shortages and climate change?  Also,  Susie Scott, Professor of Sociology at the University of Sussex analyses the unspoken social norms which govern swimmers behaviour, including a respect for personal space, a shared disapproval for the 'hairy torpedo'  and the firm refusal to notice 'the elephant in the room' -  the fact that we are nearly naked. Producer: Jayne Egerton

The swimming pool

The politics of the body: movement and posture. Laurie Taylor talks to Matthew Beaumont, Professor in English Literature at UCL, about how race, class, and politics influence the way we move: You can tell a lot about people by how they walk. Through a series of dialogues with thinkers and walkers, his book explores the relationship between freedom and the human body. Also, Beth Linker, Associate Professor in the Social Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania discusses the posture panic which once seized America - a decades-long episode in which it was widely accepted as scientific fact that Americans were suffering from an epidemic of slouching, with potentially catastrophic health consequences. Tracing the rise and fall of this socially manufactured epidemic, she reveals how this period influenced the 20th century eugenics movement and the belief that sitting or standing up straight was a sign of moral rectitude.Producer: Jayne Egerton

The politics of the body

Opioids in the US and UK; Laurie Taylor explores the changing nature of opioid use, from street heroin to synthetic prescription drugs. Helena Hansen Professor of Psychiatry and Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, reveals the surprisingly white “new face” of the US opioid crisis. Although Black Americans are no more likely than whites to use illicit drugs, they are much more likely to be incarcerated for drug offenses. Meanwhile, a very different system for responding to the drug use of whites has emerged. White opioids – the synthetic opiates such as OxyContin -  came to be at heart of epidemic prescription medication abuse among white, suburban and rural Americans. Why was the crisis so white?  How did a century of structural racism in drug policy lead, counter intuitively,  to mass white overdose deaths?Also, Alex Stevens, Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Kent, provides a UK perspective, charting the rise of synthetic opioids which are much more potent than heroin.  Heroin related deaths are concentrated in people over 40, who live in deindustrialised areas and are nine times higher in the most deprived decile of neighbourhoods in England.  He argues that their increasing presence in the drug supply could dramatically increases the number of deaths as has been seen in the USA.This episode contains a clip from a TV programme Horizon recorded by Dr Michael Mosley in 2020 exploring painkiller use in Britain. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Opioids

Garden Utopias: Michael Gilson, Associate Fellow of the School of Media, Arts and Humanities, University of Sussex, takes Laurie Taylor behind the privet hedge, to explore the suburban garden and the beautification of Britain. How did millions of British people develop an obsession with their own cherished plot of land? Although  stereotyped as symbols of dull, middle class conformity, these gardens were once seen as the vanguard of progressive social change, a dream of a world in which beauty would be central to all of our lives. Also, JC Niala, anthropologist, allotment historian and writer, discusses 36 months of fieldwork on allotment sites and guerrilla gardened streets across Oxford  and suggests these are places where urban gardeners imagine, invent, and produce a hopeful future within their city.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Garden Utopias

Richard Sennett, leading cultural and social thinker and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, talks to Laurie Taylor. Growing up in a housing project in Chicago, he originally trained in music. An accident put paid to his cello playing and he turned to sociology. Over five decades he’s documented the social life of cities, work in modern society and the sociology of culture. His latest study explores the relations between performing in art (particularly music), politics and everyday experience.  It draws personally on Sennett's early career as a professional cellist and explores the dangerous and ambiguous nature of performance, from the French theorist, Michel Foucault's hypnotic lectures to the demagoguery of contemporary politicians. He describes the tragic performances of unemployed dockworkers in New York City in the 1960s, as they competed for a dwindling number of jobs, and Aids patients in a Catholic hospital doing a reading of As You Like It and displaying defiance in the face of death and religious disapproval.  Producer: Jayne Egerton

Richard Sennett

Anonymity and self creation: Laurie Taylor talks to Thomas DeGloma, Associate Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, about hidden identities and how and why we use anonymity, for good or ill.  He explores a wide range of historical and contemporary cases, from the Ku Klux Klan to 'Dr H' the psychiatrist who disguised his identity in a meeting which changed his profession's regressive attitudes towards homosexuality.  In recent years, anonymity has featured widely in the political and social landscape:  from  the pseudonymous artist, Banksy, to Hackers Anonymous and QAnon.  What is anonymity, and why, under various circumstances, do individuals act anonymously? How do individuals use it, and, in some situations, how is it imposed on them? Also, Tara Isabella Burton, Visiting Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, on the crafting of public personae, from Beau Brummell to the Kardashians. She finds the trend for personal branding, amongst ordinary people as well as celebrities,  originated with the idea that we could shape our own destiny,  once the power of the church had waned.  What are the connections between the Renaissance genius and the Regency dandy, the Hollywood 'IT' girl and Reality TV star? Might there be social costs to seeing self-determination as the fundamental element of human life?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Anonymity - Self-creation

Capitalism –  what's the story behind the word and a cross cultural survey of peoples attitudes to it.  Laurie Taylor talks to Michael Sonenscher, Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge about the evolution of a word which was first coined in France in the early 19th century. How has its meaning changed over time and how can a historical analysis shed light on political problems in the here and now? What’s at stake in our understanding or misunderstanding of  the term?  They’re joined by the German sociologist and historian, Rainer Zitelmann, whose latest study argues that many people are buying into myths about Capitalism and includes the largest international survey of attitudes towards our economic system.  He finds negative attitudes to be widespread, including in Great Britain, the motherland of Capitalism  -  only in 12 countries are attitudes more critical. What accounts for this disillusion? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Capitalism

Traditionalism and Russian Orthodox Converts – Laurie Taylor talks to Mark Sedgwick, Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at Aarhus University, about the radical project for restoring sacred order. Traditionalism is founded on ancient teachings that, its followers argue, have been handed down from time immemorial and which must be defended from modernity. How has this mystical doctrine come to have contemporary sway on the political right, inspiring ex President Trump's former chief strategist, as well as  the Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, sometimes dubbed as “Putin’s brain”?They’re joined by Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, Assistant Professor of Religion and Anthropology at Northeastern University, Boston,  who has uncovered an extraordinary story of religious conversion in one corner of Appalachia. Here, a group of American citizens has embraced the Russian Orthodox Church and through it Putin’s New Russia.  They look to Russian religion and politics for answers to Western secularism and the loss of traditional family values. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Traditionalism - Russian Orthodox Converts

THE ENGLISH: Laurie Taylor asks how the country house became ‘English’ and explores changing  notions of Englishness over the past 60  years. He’s joined by  Stephanie Barczewski, Professor of Modern British History at Clemson University, South Carolina and author of a new book which examines the way the country house came to embody national values of continuity and stability, even though it has lived through eras of violence and disruption. Also, David Matless,  Professor of Cultural Geography at Nottingham University, considers the way that England has been imagined since the 1960s, from politics to popular culture, landscape and music. How have twenty-first-century concerns and anxieties in the Brexit moment been moulded by events over previous decades?Producer: Jayne Egerton

THE ENGLISH

THE PASSPORT: Laurie Taylor explores the cultural history of an indispensable document which has given citizens a license to travel and helped to define the modern world.  Patrick Bixby, Professor of English at Arizona State University, delves into the evolution of the passport through the tales of historical figures, celebrities, artists, and writers, from Frederick Douglas to Hannah Arendt.  How has the passport become  both an instrument of personal freedom as well as a tool of government surveillance? They’re joined by Kristin Surak , Associate Professor of Political Sociology at the LSE and author of a new study which investigates the routes taken by wealthy elites in pursuit of a ‘golden passport’. Through six years of fieldwork on four continents, she discovered how the sale of passports has transformed into a full-blown citizenship industry that thrives on global inequalities.Producer: Jayne Egerton

The Passport

The power of song: Laurie Taylor talks to James Walvin, Professor of History Emeritus at the University of York and author of a new study which explores the cultural history of "Amazing Grace," one of the transatlantic world's most popular hymns and a powerful anthem for humanity. How did a simple Christian hymn, written in a remote English vicarage in 1772, come to hold such sway over millions in all corners of the modern world? Also, Angela Impey Professor of Enthomusicology at SOAS, argues that songs in South Sudan can be key platform for truth-telling, often invested with greater moral force than other forms of communication in the context of 50 years of civil war. What role can songs play in the struggle for peace and justice?Producer: Jayne Egerton

The Power of Song

Laurie Taylor talks to Daniel Miller, Professor of Anthropology at University College London,  about his highly original exploration of what life could and should be. It juxtaposes a philosophical enquiry into the nature of the good life with an in-depth study of people living in a small Irish town. Just how much can we learn from a respectful acknowledgment of what far from extraordinary people have achieved? By creating community, they’ve provided the foundation for a fulfilling life, one that is ‘good enough’. Also, Carol Graham, Senior Fellow in the  Economic Studies Program at The Brookings Institution, argues for the importance of hope - a concept little studied in economics. She argues that individual unhappiness and public policy problems can’t be solved without the belief that we can make things better. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Hope and the 'good enough' life

Intersections - Laurie Taylor talks to world-renowned, Black feminist scholar, Patricia Hill Collins, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Maryland and author of a new study looking at how violence differentially affects people according to their sex, class, sexuality, nationality, and ethnicity. These invisible workings of overlapping power relations give rise to what she terms 'lethal intersections,' where the risk of death is much greater for some than others. Drawing on a rich tapestry of cases she asks us to think about what counts as violence today and what can be done about it. They’re joined by Joyce Jiang, Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at the University of York, whose latest research examines abuses against female migrant domestic workers in the UK which include long working hours, harsh working conditions, but also verbal, physical and sexual abuses.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Intersections

THE GRAVE AND MEMORIAL BENCHES: Laurie Taylor talks to Allison C. Meier, New York based researcher, about how burial sites have transformed over time. Whilst the grave may be a final destination, it is not the great leveller, and permanency is always a privilege with the indigent and unidentified frequently being interred in mass graves.  So what is the future of burial with the rise of cremation, green burial, and new practices like human composting? Can existing spaces of death be returned to community life?Also, Anne Karpf, Professor of Life Writing and Culture at London Metropolitan University,  explores the phenomenon of the memorial bench. Despite the proliferation of online spaces for memorialising a person who has died, there is a growing demand for physical commemorations in places that were meaningful to them, as evidenced by the waiting-lists for memorial benches in sought-after spots. Do such memorials constitute a ‘living obituary’, a celebration of seemingly undistinguished lives, beyond the grave? Producer: Jayne Egerton

The Grave - Memorial Benches

PETS: Laurie Taylor talks to Jane Hamlett, Senior Lecturer in Modern British History at Royal Holloway, University of London,  about her study of  the British love affair with pets over the last two century. She found that the kinds of pets we keep, as well as how we relate to and care for them, has changed radically. Most importantly, pets have played a powerful emotional role in families across all social classes, creating new kinds of relationships and home lives. Also Jessica Amberson, Lecturer in Adult and Continuing Education at University College, Cork, takes us on a dog walk and explores what this mundane daily activity means for a canine owner and how it helps shapes the identity of a ‘dog person’? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Pets

SUGAR:  Laurie Taylor explores the ways in which the sweet stuff has transformed our politics, health, history and even family relationships.  He’s joined by  Ulbe Bosma,  Professor of International Comparative Social History at the Vrije Universiteit,  Amsterdam, and author of a tour de force global history of sugar and its human costs, from its little-known origins as a luxury good in Asia to transatlantic slavery and the obesity pandemic. Also, Imogen Bevan, Research Fellow in Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, considers the bittersweet nature of sugar consumption and kinship in Scotland. During extensive fieldwork in primary schools, homes and community groups, she traced the values and meanings attributed to sugar – its role in cementing social bonding, marking out special occasions and offering rewards to children, in particular. Far from being a simple and pleasurable choice, she found it often had a fraught, morally ambivalent presence in family life. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Sugar

Woke: Laurie Taylor talks to Susan Neiman, philosopher and director of the Einstein Forum about her analysis of the concept of ‘woke’. Contrary to popular assumption, she argues, it is not a set of attitudes which belong on the left of the political spectrum, but is rather an attack on progressive, universal values and the Enlightenment.  They're joined by Huw Davies, lecturer in digital education at the University of Edinburgh, who offers a dissection of the British ‘war on woke’,  suggesting that it is an intensive ideological campaign that is mobilising reactionary tropes within mainstream British political discourse.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Woke

Guns: Laurie Taylor talks to Jennifer Carlson, Professor of Sociology at Arizona State University and author of an in depth study of gun sellers in the US. In 2020 they were on the front line of an unprecedented surge in gun purchasing against a backdrop of pandemic insecurities and political polarisation. Interviewing 50 sellers from four states, 84%  of whom were on the right of the political spectrum, she found they were not simply selling guns, but also a conservative vision. How then did they react to a new wave of gun buyers which included women and sexual minorities, some of whom were liberal? Did this vindicate or challenge their gun centric world view? And what are the possibilities for a positive transformation in America's harmful gun culture when only one third of the population are opposed to the personal ownership of hand guns?  They're joined by Andrew Nahum, historian & Keeper Emeritus at The Science Museum whose latest work considers the impact of the gun on progress, both intellectual and industrial, from the Enlightenment to the American West, the Cold War and contemporary gun culture. How did so many rifles come to be held in private hands and what does the ongoing preoccupation with the creation of ever more effective firearms tell us about human creativity?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Guns

Water Ways:  Laurie Taylor wades into the deep end with an exploration of human relationships with water. He talks to Veronica Strang, Professor of Anthropology, affiliated to Oxford University, whose latest study takes us from nature worship to the environmental crisis. Early human societies worshipped ‘nature beings’, including water serpent deities who manifested the elemental and generative powers of water. Such beliefs supported collaborative co-existence with the non-human world. How might an understanding of the role and symbolism of water serpents help us turn back the tide of ecological disaster? They’re joined by Anna Mdee, Professor in the Politics of Global Development at the University of Leeds, who argues that water poverty isn't confined to the Global South, but takes a different form in the western societies, impacting around 20% of households in England and Wales. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Water Ways

BOXING AND KICKBOXING:  Can they transform lives? Boxing has long been cited as a potential cure for a range of social ills, including criminal justice failures, poor mental health and childhood trauma, yet little research has been carried out into how and why such claims exist. Laurie Taylor talks to Deborah Jump, Reader in Criminology at the Manchester Metropolitan University, about the potential of boxing as a mechanism for change among vulnerable groups.  Also, Amit Singh, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Sociology Department at the University of Manchester  discusses his study of a kickboxing gym in East London where people struggle to gain an identity as a ‘fighter’, one that transcends race, class, sexuality and gender. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Boxing and Kickboxing

The Petite Bourgeoisie - Laurie Taylor talks to Daniel Evans, Research Assistant at Cardiff University and author of a new study which explores the unstoppable rise of the lower middle class.  Marx predicted that this insecure class, sandwiched  between the working class and the bourgeoisie, would be absorbed into the proletariat as artisans died out during the industrial revolution. In fact, it has grown exponentially and is now a significant player within global politics, courted by the right and the left. Far from losing influence, the individualist values associated with it have been popularised by a society which some say fetishizes “aspiration” and entrepreneurship.They're joined by Nicola Bishop, cultural historian and Senior Teaching Fellow at Loughborough University, whose latest book analyses white collar workers in British popular culture, from the novels of Charles Dickens to comedy TV sitcoms.  Why have lower middle class, suburban values become such a staple of our cultural consumption and what can this tell us about national British identity? Producer: Jayne Egerton

The Petite Bourgeoisie

HIGH FINANCE: Laurie Taylor talks to Brett Christophers, Professor in the Department of Human Geography at Uppsala University, Sweden, whose latest book argues that banks have taken a backseat since the global financial crisis . Today, our new economic masters are asset managers who don’t just own financial assets, they also own the roads we drive on; the pipes that supply our drinking water; the farmland that provides our food; energy systems for electricity and heat; hospitals, schools, and even the homes in which many of us live—these all now swell asset managers’ bulging investment portfolios. They’re joined by Megan Tobias Neely, Assistant Professor in the Department of Organization at Copenhagen Business School and author of a study which takes us behind the designer suits and helicopter commutes to provide a glimpse of  the  lives and times of the mainly white men who dominate the hedge fund industry where about 10,000 firms manage $4 trillion in assets and the average earnings are $1.4 mm a year - which can rise to several billion. Producer: Jayne Egerton

High Finance

FASHION RE-IMAGINED:  Laurie Taylor talks to Angela McRobbie, Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London about the working lives of independent designers in London, Berlin and Milan, at a time when fashion is under the spotlight due to concerns about the environment and exploitation in the industry.  How might we create a more equitable and inclusive fashion future?  Also, Kat Jungnickel, Reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths, uncovers the lesser-known clothing inventions which enabled women to access the male preserve of sports, move in new ways and expand female mobility and freedom.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Fashion Re-imagined

Digital intimacy - Laurie Taylor asks how the algorithms embedded in digital technologies are transforming our relationships. He's joined by Anthony Elliott, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the  University of South Australia and author of a new book which suggests that that machine intelligence is changing the nature of human bonds, from sexual partners to friendship and therapy. Also, Carolina Bandinelli, Associate Professor in Media and Creative Industries at the University of Warwick, discusses her study of Tinder, and other dating apps,  and the surprising finding that sex and love are not  at the core of how people use them.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Digital intimacy

PRISON ABOLITION: Laurie Taylor talks to Tommie Shelby,  Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, about a new study which considers the case for ending imprisonment. Mass incarceration and its devastating impact on black communities have been widely condemned as neoslavery or “the new Jim Crow.” Can the practice of imprisonment be reformed, or does justice require it to be ended altogether?  They’re joined by Clare McGlynn, Professor of Law at Durham University, who questions  'anti carceral' approaches from a feminist perspective – do they serve the interests of survivors of male violence against women and girls?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Prison Abolition

Taste and Lifestyle: Laurie Taylor talks to Ben Highmore, Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex, whose latest study explores the ways in which consumer culture remade the tastes of an emerging middle class – from pine kitchen tables to Mediterranean cuisine. Did this world of symbolic goods create new feelings and attitudes? Also, Michael McMillan, Associate Lecturer for Cultural and Historical Studies at the London College of Fashion, discusses the migrant experience of African-Caribbean families setting up home in the UK in the mid-20th century. How did the artefacts and objects which dressed the West Indian front room provide an outlet for feelings of displacement and alienation in a society where they weren't always made to feel 'at home'?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Taste and Lifestyle

Dance Culture: Laurie Taylor takes a journey through the dancefloor with the music writer, Emma Warren, whose latest research combines social history and memoir to answer the question 'why do we dance together?'  Also, Melin Levent Yuna, a sociologist and anthropologist at Acibaden University, explains why Istanbul has become the Tango capital of the world, after Buenos Aires, in spite of its conservative government. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Dance Culture

Democracy: Quinn Slobodian, Professor of the History of Ideas at Wellesley College, takes Laurie Taylor on the journey of radical libertarians who search for the perfect home, free from the burden of democratic oversight, from Hong Kong to Canary Wharf and the Honduras. What accounts for the explosion of new legal entities, including free ports, gated enclaves, city states and special economic zones?  They're joined by Mukulika Banerjee, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics, whose latest study into the lives of West Bengal villagers finds that they promote democratic values in everyday acts of citizenship at a time when Indian democracy is under threat. How do their creative practices around kinship, farming and religion promote republican virtues of cooperation, civility, solidarity and vigilance?  Producer: Jayne Egerton

Democracy

Poverty in the UK & US: Laurie Taylor talks to Matthew Desmond, Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, whose latest study asks why the  richest country on earth has more poverty than any other advanced democracy.  Also Elizabeth Jane Richards, Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences at Edge Hill University, explores the way in which understandings  of poverty have changed over time.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Poverty

CLASS AND EDUCATION 
Laurie Taylor talks to Kalwant Bhopal, Professor of Education and Social Justice at the University of Birmingham, about her research into the inner workings of elite universities and the making of privilege. They're joined by Iona Burnell Reilly, Senior Lecturer in the Sociology of Education at the University of East London, whose  latest study presents a collection of autoethnographies, written by working class academics in higher education, and considers how have they become who they are in an industry steeped in elitism.  Producer: Jayne Egerton

Elite Universities - Working Class Students

Asylum and 'home' - the impact of asylum dispersal and Syrian refugees' quest for home. Laurie Taylor talks to Jonathan Darling, Associate Professor in Human Geography at Durham University, about the system of housing and support for asylum seekers and refugees in Britain, from the first outsourced asylum accommodation contracts in 2012 to the renewed wave of outsourcing pursued by the Home Office today. Drawing on six years of research into Britain's dispersal system, and foregrounding the voices and experiences of refugees and asylum seekers, he argues that dispersal has caused suffering and played a central role in the erasure of asylum from public concern. Also, Vicki Squire, Professor of International Politics at the University of Warwick, discusses the narrative recollections of people who have survived the current Syrian War, only to confront the challenges of forced displacement and relocation, from the West Midlands to London, Canada. What is the meaning of home to those who are subjected to complex migratory journeys and carry memories of  extended family, community and homeland in a conflict which has displaced half the population? How do refugees create home ‘away’ from home?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Asylum and 'Home'

Museums -  Laurie Taylor talks to Adam Kuper, most recently Centennial Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economic, about their history and future. Originally created as colonial enterprises, what is the purpose of these places now? How do we regard the ways in which foreign and prehistoric peoples were represented in museums of anthropology? What should be done with the artefacts and human remains in their custodianship and how can they help us to understand and appreciate other cultures? Kerry Wilson, Reader in Cultural Policy at Liverpool John Moores University, discusses House of Memories, a multiple award-winning dementia awareness programme, led by National Museums Liverpool. The programme promotes the use of social history collections and museum objects to inspire communication and connection between carers and people with dementia, via dedicated museum-based events. Is this an example of how museums can offer social value to local communities today?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Museums

The religion of work and welfare: Laurie Taylor explores the way in which our understanding of jobs and joblessness has become entangled with religious ideologies. He's joined by Tom Boland, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at University College, Cork, who argues that  Western culture has ‘faith’ in the labour market as a test of the worth of each individual. For those who are out of work, welfare is now less a means of support than a means of purification and redemption where job seeking becomes a form of pilgrimage. Also, Carolyn Chen,  Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, explores how the restructuring of work is transforming religious and spiritual experience in late capitalism. She spent five years conducting an ethnographic study in Silicon Valley and found that  tech companies have brought religion  into the workplace, in ways that replace churches, temples, and synagogues in workers’ lives and satisfy needs for belonging, identity, purpose, and transcendence.  What happens when work replaces religion and are there wider lessons for workers beyond the niche world of high tech?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Religion of Work and Welfare

Parenting - Laurie Taylor explores its cultural history and the shift towards  intensive parenting.   Andrew Bomback, Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center,  investigates the emergence of an immersive, all-in approach to raising children that has made parenting a competitive sport. Drawing on “how-to” parenting books and historical accounts of parental duties he charts the way in which being a parent became a skill to be mastered.  They're joined by Benedetta Cappellini, who considers the impact of these social transformations on Grandmothers.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Parenting

Dirty work - Laurie Taylor explores the invisible labour we choose not to see. The writer and sociologist, Eyal Press, considers the morally dubious, even dangerous jobs, which sustain modern society but which are concealed from view, from the prison guards who patrol the wards of America's most violent and abusive prisons to the migrants who work in industrial slaughterhouses. What are the ethical, as well as physical costs of doing this kind of labour? Why do those individuals carry the stigma and shame of doing  'dirty work', rather than the society which condones it?Ellie Johnson, Research Fellow in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol, discusses the treatment of older people in two English residential care homes, sketching out the workers' attitudes and practices concerning hygiene and bodily waste and the ways in which they do, or don't, offer dignity and respect to those receiving care. Is the mistreatment of older people simply an outcome of a deeply inequitable market for care provision or can it also tell us something about the way in which marginalised groups, such as elderly and disabled people, can be dehumanised?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Dirty Work

SELF IMPROVEMENT: Laurie Taylor explores the 'wellness' and 'confidence' cultures that injunct us to be better versions of ourselves. He talks to Shani Orgad, a Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the LSE and co-author of a new study arguing that imperatives directed at women to “love your body” and “believe in yourself” imply that psychological blocks rather than entrenched social injustices hold women back. Why is there now such an emphasis on confidence in contemporary discourse about body image, workplace, relationships, motherhood, and even international development?  They’re joined by Stephanie Alice Baker, a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at City, University of London, whose latest work traces the emergence of 'wellness culture' from a fringe countercultural pursuit to a trillion-dollar industry. Wellness has become synonymous with yoga, meditation, and other forms of self-care and is no longer simply an alternative to mainstream medicine. As it's coalesced with consumer culture, it's become synonymous with an industry of exclusive products and services. In addition, in the Covid moment, it's become associated with harmful conspiracy theories.  So is 'wellness' culture delivering on its myriad promises, or does it have a darker side?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Self-improvement

Betting and Investment: Laurie Taylor explores the connections and the differences between two apparently very different phenomena - the football pools and the stock market.He's joined by Keith Laybourn, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Huddersfield, who charts the rise and fall of the football pools over the 20th century. In its heyday, millions of working class people hoped for a life-changing jackpot cheque presented by a sporting personality and stories of big wins punctuated the news. So what led to a flutter on the pools falling out of favour?  And Amy Edwards, lecturer of Modern British History at the University of Bristol, asks ‘are we rich yet?’ in a study which considers the way in which a growing number of British people engaged in stock market investment as financial markets became part of daily life from the 1980s following the privatisation of British Telecom. Did this development take investment away from the oak-panelled world of the City and give the wider public a genuine stake in popular capitalism? Producer: Jayne Egerton

The football pools - mass investment

The Internet and time – how the World Wide Web has transformed our understanding of history as well as the future.  Laurie Taylor talks to Jason Steinhauer, public historian and Global Fellow at the Wilson Centre, Washington, DC, whose latest study argues that the tangled complexity of history that we see via Instagram and Twitter  is leading to an impoverished, even a distorted knowledge of the past. Algorithms play in a big role in determining the versions of history which we are seeing. Content does not rise to the top of news feeds based on its scholarly or factual merits. Political agendas and commercial agendas are almost always at play. So how can we become more discerning consumers of historical knowledge?They're joined by Helga Nowotny, Professor Emerita of Social Studies of Science a ETH Zurich, whose research suggests that our dependence on predictive algorithms might be closing down the horizon of our future, giving us a feeling of control whilst narrowing our choices.Producer: Jayne Egerton

The Internet - how it shapes the past and the future

The NHS and the 'sick note': Laurie Taylor talks to Gareth Millward,  Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) in Odense,  and author of a new study which explores the history of the British welfare state via the story of the ‘sick note’.  It turns out that the question of ‘who is really sick? was never straightforward. At various times, it was understood that a signed note from a doctor was not enough to 'prove' whether someone was really sick, yet  with no better alternative on offer, the sick note survived in practice and in the popular imagination - just like the welfare state itself. They’re joined by Sally Sheard, Professor of History at the University of Liverpool, who charts the cultural history and changing understandings of healthcare and the NHS in Britain.Producer: Jayne Egerton

The NHS

Protests: from Occupy to MeToo and the current situation in Iran.  Laurie Taylor is joined by Sara Burke, Senior Policy Analyst at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung political foundation in New York, and co-author of a recent study which analyses the myriad protests which have shaken the world since 2010. She explores their main causes, which include the perceived failures of democracies, as well as the oppression of women and economic inequality.  Which protests are likeliest to achieve success and how do we measure success, in the first place?  They're joined by Maryam Alemzadeh, Associate Professor in the History and Politics of Iran at the University of Oxford, who discusses the characteristics and trajectory of the women-led protests in Iran. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Protests

Gender and Alcohol: Laurie Taylor talks to Thomas Thurnell-Read, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Loughborough University, about the masculine domain of craft drinks, an area of the alcohol industry associated with liberal and progressive values but where assumptions about tastes are still informed by gender stereotypes, the marketing of products may draw heavily on sexist imagery and men are seen as the gatekeepers of expertise.They’re joined by Kath Hennell, Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth Studies, who explores the key ingredients of a 'proper night out' for young women and men. What are the hidden, gendered rules which inform a ritual involving extreme intoxication?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Gender and Alcohol

Futilitarianism & Extreme Pessimists:  Laurie Taylor talks to Neil Vallelly, Researcher at Economic and Social Research Aotearoa (ESRA) at the University of Otago, New Zealand about a new study which argues that the current moment is characterised by feelings of futility and uselessness.  If maximising utility leads to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people, as utilitarianism has always proposed, then why is it that as many of us currently maximise our utility—by working endlessly, undertaking further education and relentlessly marketing ourselves—we are met with the steady worsening of collective social and economic conditions? They're joined by  Monika Mühlböck, Assistant Professor at the University of Vienna and Senior Researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies, whose research finds that  expected downward mobility is impacting the political attitudes & voting behaviour of young people. Drawing on data from a survey among young adults aged 18–35 in eleven European countries, she asks to what extent that young adults who expect to do worse than their parents in the future are more likely to locate themselves at the extreme ends of the ideological scale.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Futilitarianism - Extreme Pessimists

Rules & Order: Laurie Taylor talks to Tim Newburn, Professor of Criminology and Social Policy at the LSE,  about the social history of ‘orderly Britain’ – the way in which we’ve resolved everyday problems, from dog fouling to smoking and queuing. They’re joined by Lorraine Daston, Director Emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, who traces the development of rules in the Western tradition, ones which have set out work hours, dictated how we set the table, told us whether to offer an extended hand or cheek in greeting, and organised the rituals of life.  Why do we need such rules and could we live without them? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Rules and Order

Gentrification revisited:  Laurie Taylor talks to Leslie Kern,  Associate Professor of Geography and Environment at Mount Allison University, Canada and author of  a new study unpacking the meaning and impact of gentrification six decades after the term was  first coined.  She travelled from Toronto  to New York, London, Paris and San Francisco, scrutinising the myth and reality that surround this highly contested phenomenon. Beyond the yoga studio, farmer's market and retro cafe, she argues that this is not a 'natural' process,  but one which impacts the most vulnerable.They’re joined by Dr Charmaine Brown, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Education and Cultural Studies at the University of Greenwich, whose research in Peckham, South East London, finds contrasting perspectives amongst different residents. Beautiful shop fronts, fewer police sirens and new street furniture appeal to incomers but Dr Brown sees a loss of social capital, opportunity and support for the original mainly Black communities.  Producer: Jayne Egerton

Gentrification revisited

The Sea – Laurie Taylor explores the privatisation of our oceans and the threat of plastic pollution.  He gets into deep waters with Guy Standing, Professorial Research Associate at SOAS University of London, and author of new study which argues that  exploitation and extraction now drive all aspects of the ocean economy, destroying communities, intensifying inequalities, and driving fish populations and other ocean life towards extinction. How can we rescue the economy of the sea? Alice Mah, Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick discusses her recent work on the escalating plastics crisis. Even as public outrage has been prompted by viral imagines of choking marine wildlife, the demand for plastics continues to rise.  Is it unstoppable?Producer: Jayne Egerton

The Sea

Survival of the City: Laurie Taylor talks to Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University and author of a study examining the future of urban life at a time when the pandemic has exposed failures of governance. Whilst cities have been engines for creativity and wealth, they have also, of late, exposed deep inequities in health care and education and advances in technology mean many can opt out of city life as never before. So are we moving to a post urban world? Or will the city continue to thrive and re-invent itself?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Survival of the city

Package holidays and ‘authentic’ travel: Michael John Law, retired research fellow in History at the University of Westminster, investigates the origin of budget tourism and how the package deal opened up a previously unaffordable world to working class holidaymakers. Also, Kaylan Schwarz, assistant professor in the School of Liberal Education at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, explores the experience of international volunteers who insist on experiencing ‘authenticity’ and claim superiority to every day tourists. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Package holidays and 'authentic' travel

Shopping: Laurie Taylor talks to Rachel Bowlby, Professor of Comparative Literature at University College London, about the history of shops & shopping, from pedlars to chain stores, markets to home delivery. Shops have occupied radically different places in political arguments and in our everyday lives, over time. They are sites of purchase but also of community.  What’s their future in the age of Covid? Also, Robin Sheriff, Associate Professor of  Anthropology at the University of New Hampshire, explores young American women's dreams of shopping. What can dreams tell us about cultural change and consumption? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Ballroom dancing: Laurie Taylor explores its social history and sexual politics with Hilary French, Professor of Design Studies at Bath Spa University and author of a new book which charts the evolution of a form of dance which originated in upper class, private balls but became a mass, working class pastime in the early 20th century. From Hollywood movies to Mecca dance halls.  What explains its rise and fall and rise again, in the current moment?  They're joined by Vicki Harman, Reader in Sociology at University of Surrey, who unpacks the intriguing  appeal of ballroom in the light of changing gender norms which question the notion that a man should 'lead'. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Ballroom dancing

Plutocratic London and dynastic wealth.  Caroline Knowles, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, takes Laurie Taylor on a tour of plutocratic London, a city with more resident billionaires than New York, Hong Kong or Moscow. How have the fabulously rich re-made London in their own image and what is the cost to ordinary Londoners? They’re joined by Katie Higgins, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Sociology of Elites at the University of Oxford, and author of a study  exploring the inheritance practices of the ultra wealthy. How do they maintain a belief in the value of work whilst preserving inheritance for the generation to come?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Wealth - Plutocratic London

Covid: Laurie Taylor explores the impact of the pandemic on our working and home lives. Will Davies, Professor in Political Economy at Goldsmiths, University of London, suggests it has revealed the politics of our economy, offering prosperity to some and  hardships to others. He’s joined by Heejung Chung, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Kent, whose  research explores the impact of  Covid on flexible working . Has it led to a more equal division of labour for heterosexual couples or entrenched existing inequalities? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Covid and change

Workplace Misbehaviour: Laurie Taylor talks to Paul Thompson, Emeritus Professor of Employment Studies at the University of Stirling, about workers behaving badly, from pilferage and absenteeism to the deployment of satirical humour and dissent on social media. In what ways has the modern workplace  facilitated new kinds of recalcitrance?  Also, Rebecca Scott, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at  the University of Cardiff,  explores bullying and aggressive behaviour among chefs employed in fine dining restaurants.  Does the isolation of the work itself, combined with  the geography of elite kitchens,  lead to outrageous conduct that would be condemned elsewhere?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Workplace Misbehaviour

Psychiatry: Laurie Taylor explores the social history of modern psychiatric practice. He's joined by Andrew Scull, Emeritus Professor in Sociology at the University of California and author of a magisterial study which asks if we are any closer to solving serious mental illness than we were a century ago. He traces the history of psychiatry's attempts to analyse and mitigate mental disorders: from the era of the asylum and  psychosurgery to the rise and fall of psychoanalysis and the drugs revolution. Why is this history littered with examples of 'care' which so often resulted in dire consequences for the patient? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Psychiatry: a social history

Prison protest: Laurie Taylor explores the way in which prisoners have sought to transform the conditions of their imprisonment and have their voices heard. Nayan Shah, Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity and History at the University of Southern California, considers the global history  of hunger strikes from suffragists in the US and UK to Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland and anti apartheid campaigners in South Africa. What is the meaning and impact of the refusal to eat? They’re joined by Philippa Tomczak,  Director of  the Prisons, Health and Societies Research Group at the University of Nottingham,  and author of a study which examines the way in which  the 1990 riots at HMP Strangeways helped to re-shape imprisonment. Was the change lasting or significant?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Prison Protest

Footwear -  the ‘magic’ & the material reality.  Laurie Taylor talks to Claudio Benzecry, Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Sociology at Northwestern University, about the people and places involved in the global manufacture of women’s shoes. They’re joined by Elizabeth Ezra, Professor of Cinema and Culture at the University of Stirling, and author of a study about magic shoes, from Wizard of Oz to Cinderella, which finds that 'the perfect fit' relates to more than size and that our culture invests  footwear with symbolic meanings beyond their status as mere commodities.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Footwear

Strongmen – what accounts for the global rise of authoritarian leaders? Laurie Taylor talks to Ruth Ben-Ghiat,  Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University, and analyst of the blueprint which autocratic demagogues, from Mussolini to Putin, have followed over the past 100 years. What lessons might be learned to prevent disastrous rule in the future? They're joined by Christophe Jaffrelot,  Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at King's College, London, whose recent study of  Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, examines how a popularly elected leader has pursued Hindu nationalist policies, steering the world's largest democracy towards further ethnic strife and intolerance, according to many observers. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Strongmen

The ‘Underclass’:  Laurie Taylor explored a vexed concept which has engaged social scientists, philanthropists, journalists, policy makers and politicians. He’s joined by Loic Wacquant, Professor of Sociology at the University of California Berkeley, and author of a magisterial study which traces the rise and fall of a scarecrow category which, he argues, had a lemming effect on a generation of scholars of race and poverty,  obscuring more than it illuminated. They're joined by Baroness Ruth Lister, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at Loughborough University, who charts the way in which the notion of an underclass travelled to the UK, via the New Right sociologist, Charles Murray. She describes its impact on the debate about 'welfare' dependency,  across the political spectrum,  and argues for a 'politics of renaming' one which accords respect and recognition to people who experience poverty.Producer: Jayne Egerton

The Underclass

SKILL: Laurie Taylor explores the social construction of  skilled  and unskilled work. Far from being  objective categories,  Chris Warhurst, Professor & Director of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick, suggests a more complex history, one which has favoured male workers.  They're joined by  Natasha Iskander, Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Public Service at NYU, whose new study takes us into Qatar’s booming construction industry in the lead-up to the 2022 World Cup. She argues  that the experiences of migrant workers reveals the way in which the distinction between the “skilled” and “unskilled” is used to limit freedom and personhood. Does skill make us human? Producer: Jayne Egerton