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Podcast

New research on how society works

Updated: weekly
Episodes available: indefinitely

Episodes to download

  •

    Religion of Work and Welfare

    Wed 25 Jan 2023

    The religion of work and welfare.

  • Parenting

    Wed 18 Jan 2023

    Parenting - a cultural history.

  • Dirty Work

    Wed 11 Jan 2023

    Dirty work - the invisible labour we choose not to see.

  • Self-improvement

    Wed 4 Jan 2023

    Self-improvement: are 'wellness' and 'confidence' cultures enhancing our lives?

  • The football pools - mass investment

    Wed 28 Dec 2022

    Betting and investment - what are the connections and the differences?

  • The Internet - how it shapes the past and the future

    Wed 21 Dec 2022

    The Internet - how it shapes our understanding of the past and the future.

  • The NHS

    Wed 26 Oct 2022

    The NHS and the 'sick note'.

  • Protests

    Wed 19 Oct 2022

    Protests: from Occupy to MeToo and Iran.

  • Gender and Alcohol

    Wed 12 Oct 2022

    Gender and alcohol - the craft drink scene and what constitutes a 'proper night out'?

  • Futilitarianism - Extreme Pessimists

    Wed 5 Oct 2022

    Laurie Taylor talks to Neil Vallelly about current feelings of futility and uselessness.

  • Rules and Order

    Wed 28 Sep 2022

    Are we are more orderly society than in the past?

  • Gentrification revisited

    Wed 21 Sep 2022

    Exploring the myth and reality six decades after the term gentrification was coined.

  • The Sea

    Wed 14 Sep 2022

    The Sea - the privatisation of our oceans and the threat of plastic pollution.

  • Survival of the city

    Wed 7 Sep 2022

    Survival of the city: how do cities manage to thrive and re-invent in the face of threats?

  • Package holidays and 'authentic' travel

    Wed 15 Jun 2022

    Package holidays and 鈥榓uthentic鈥� travel: Laurie Taylor on the origins of budget tourism.

  • Shopping

    Wed 8 Jun 2022

    The history of the high street. Also, dreams of consumption.

  • Ballroom dancing

    Wed 1 Jun 2022

    Ballroom dancing: its social history and sexual politics.

  • Wealth - Plutocratic London

    Wed 25 May 2022

    Plutocratic London and dynastic wealth.

  • Covid and change

    Wed 18 May 2022

    Covid: how has it changed our economy and home lives?

  • Workplace Misbehaviour

    Wed 11 May 2022

    Workplace misbehaviour: how has it changed over the years?

  • Psychiatry: a social history

    Wed 4 May 2022

    Psychiatry: Laurie Taylor explores the history of modern psychiatric practice.

  • Prison Protest

    Wed 27 Apr 2022

    Prison protest: from riots to hunger strikes.

  • Footwear

    Wed 20 Apr 2022

    Footwear: the 'magic' and the material reality.

  • Strongmen

    Wed 13 Apr 2022

    Strongmen: what accounts for the global rise of authoritarian leaders?

  • The Underclass

    Wed 6 Apr 2022

    The Underclass: its rise and fall.

  • SKILL

    Wed 2 Feb 2022

    Laurie Taylor explores the social construction of the notion of skilled work.

  • Extremism

    Wed 26 Jan 2022

    Extremism: going undercover with the far right, Islamists and anti feminists.

  • Why Sociology Matters

    Wed 19 Jan 2022

    Why Sociology matters: an exploration of the meaning and purpose of Public Sociology.

  • Strangers

    Wed 12 Jan 2022

    Strangers & Xenophobia: an exploration of a historically rooted phenomenon.

  • Food, Identity & Nation

    Wed 5 Jan 2022

    Food, identity and nation - why food matters.

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