IVF - it's 35 years years since the initial success of a form of technologically assisted human reproduction which has led to the birth of 5 million 'miracle' babies. Laurie Taylor talks to Sarah Franklin, Professor in Sociology at the University of Cambridge, about her study into the meaning and impact of IVF. Has the creation of new biological relatives transformed our notion of kinship? They're joined by Henrietta Moore, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. Also, t...
Jun 11, 2014•28 min
Offshoring - the economy of secrecy. The concealment of wealth in tax havens is part of public debate, but John Urry, Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University, argues that offshore worlds now also involve relations of work, pleasure, energy and security. He talks to Laurie Taylor about new patterns of power which pose huge challenges to democratic government. Also, Dr Aliakbar Jafari, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing at the University of Strathclyde, discusses his research on...
Jun 04, 2014•28 min
Chinese women & the resurgence of gender inequality. Laurie Taylor talks to Leta Hong Fincher, about 'Leftover Women', her study of the pressures facing Modern Chinese women who are often locked out of social equality, property rights, and legal protection from domestic abuse. Also, 'smokestack nostalgia' - the meaning of post-industrial imagery. Tim Stangleman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, questions the continuing desire to reflect back and find value in our industrial ...
May 28, 2014•28 min
Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism - similarities and differences. Comparisons of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim sentiment are strikingly absent in British accounts of race and racism. Laurie Taylor talks to Nasar Meer, Reader in Comparative Social Policy at Strathclyde University, about a new study which attempts to remedy this omission. They're joined by Rumy Hasan, Senior Lecturer at the Sussex Centre for Migration Research at the University of Sussex. Also, the sociology of 'sleep'. How does sleep...
May 21, 2014•28 min
'Illicit' dance in India. Laurie Taylor talks to Anna Morcom, Senior Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, about her extensive research into marginalised dancers in contemporary South Asia. From bar dancers to transgender erotic performers, she has chronicled their relationship with 'legitimate' performing arts; their struggles against stigma and the ways in which post colonial nation building has excluded these 'non elite' carriers of culture. Also, can war ever be a force for good?...
May 14, 2014•28 min
The rise & fall of the working class: Laurie Taylor talks to Selina Todd, social historian at St Hilda's College, Oxford, about her sweeping study of ordinary British people between 1910-2010. Rooting her analysis in first person accounts from factory workers, servants and housewives, she reveals a hidden history full of the unexpected: How many of us know that cinema audiences once shook their fists at Winston Churchill? Also, US sociologist, Yasemin Besen-Cassino, discusses her research on...
May 07, 2014•28 min
The winner of Thinking Allowed's first Ethnography award, in association with the British Sociological Association. Laurie Taylor and a team of esteemed academics - Professor Beverley Skeggs, Professor Dick Hobbs, Professor Henrietta Moore and Dr Louise Westmarland - set themselves the task of finding the study that has made the most significant contribution to ethnography over the past year. In the past, ethnographic studies have cast light on hidden or misunderstood worlds, from the urban poor...
Apr 30, 2014•28 min
The Ethnography award 'short list': Thinking Allowed, in association with the British Sociological Association, presents a special programme devoted to the academic research which has been short listed for our new annual award for a study that has made a significant contribution to ethnography, the in-depth analysis of the everyday life of a culture or sub culture. Laurie Taylor is joined by three of the judges: Professor Beverley Skeggs, Professor Dick Hobbs and Dr Louise Westmarland. Producer:...
Apr 23, 2014•28 min
Gardens of the British Working Class - the historian, Margaret Willes, considers the remarkable feats of cultivation by the working class in Britain, even if the land they planted and loved was not their own: From lush gardens nurtured outside crumbling workers' cottages to 'green' miracles achieved in blackened yards. In doing so, she reveals the ingenious ways in which determined workers transformed drab surroundings. She's joined by Lisa Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies a...
Apr 16, 2014•28 min
Capitalism - renewal or decline? Laurie Taylor explores the future of our market driven economy. He's joined by David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Colin Crouch, Professor Emeritus in Sociology at the University of Warwick. Professor Harvey examines the contradictions at the heart of capitalism arguing that it's far from being the permanent or only way of organising human life. Professor Crouch, convers...
Apr 09, 2014•28 min
Kissing - a cultural history. How do we make sense of the kiss and why did it become a vital sign of romance and courtship? Laurie Taylor talks to Marcel Danesi, Professor of Linguistic Anthropology about his new book 'The History of the Kiss' which argues that kissing was the first act of "free romance" liberated from the yoke of arranged unions. When the kiss first appeared in poetry and songs of the medieval period, it was as a desirable but forbidden act. Since then it has evolved into the q...
Apr 02, 2014•28 min
Poverty and 'Shame' - shame was once described as the 'irreducible core' of poverty by Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen. Laurie Taylor looks at new cross cultural research which examines the psycho-social consequences of being poor in countries as diverse as Britain, Pakistan and South Korea. Elaine Chase, Research Officer at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford, considers the way that shame and stigma have been experienced by British people receiving welfare a...
Mar 26, 2014•28 min
Race in police 'misconduct' proceedings - Laurie Taylor considers new research exploring the perception that ethnic minority police officers are disproportionally subjected to such investigations. Graham Smith, Senior Lecturer at University of Manchester School of Law, looked at data provided by 3 English police services over a 4 year period between 2008 and 2011. Also, Evangelical Fishermen - the lives and beliefs of fundamentalist Christians living in a remote Scottish fishing village. Joseph ...
Mar 19, 2014•28 min
Post-Katrina New Orleans: how disaster recovery became a lucrative business. Laurie Taylor talks to Vincanne Adams, US Professor of Medical Anthropology, about her account of market failure after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She discovered private companies profiting from the misery they sought to ameliorate and a second order disaster that intensified inequalities based on race and class. Why were residents left to re-build their lives and homes almost entirely on their...
Mar 12, 2014•28 min
Surnames and social mobility - How much of our fate is tied to the status of our parents and grandparents? Laurie Taylor talks to Gregory Clark, Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis, about movement up the social ladder over 8 centuries, from medieval England to modern Sweden. Using a unique methodology, Professor Clark tracked family names to assess social mobility across diverse eras and societies. His conclusion is that mobility rates are less than are often estimated ...
Mar 05, 2014•28 min
'Webcam' - the use of webcam, especially through Skype, has recently become established as one more standard media technology, but one with profound implications for many facets of human life, from self-consciousness and intimacy to the sustaining of long-distance relationships and the place of the visual within social communications. Daniel Miller, Professor of Anthropology at University College London, talks to Laurie Taylor about a study which took him from London to Trinidad. Also, the 'Gene...
Feb 26, 2014•28 min
The Great Indoors. Laurie Taylor talks to cultural theorist Ben Highmore about his history of the family home in the 20th century and how houses display currents of class, identity and social transformation. Also, the evolution of the bathroom. Architectural historian Barbara Penner looks at that most intimate space in the home, and considers how it became an international symbol of key modern values, such as cleanliness, order and progress. Producer: Torquil MacLeod.
Feb 19, 2014•28 min
In memory of Stuart Hall: a special programme paying tribute to the leading cultural theorist and former director of the Birmingham Centre for Cultural Studies. A pioneer of 'multiculturalism', he documented the changing character of 'post Imperial' British society. Laurie Taylor is joined by Caspar Melville, Lecturer in Global Creative and Cultural Industries at SOAS, Baroness Lola Young and Jeremy Gilbert, editor of the journal, New Formations. They explore Stuart Hall's life, influence and le...
Feb 12, 2014•28 min
The power of 'numbers' in global politics: Laurie Taylor talks to the economist, Lorenzo Fioramonti, about the hidden agendas which may underpin the use of statistics, affecting the way we deal with poverty and sustainability. Numbers are at the heart of debates on the GDP which drives our economies and the credit ratings which steer financial markets. But what is behind these numbers? Also, pride and prejudice in Northern Ireland: The social anthropologist, Jennifer Curtis, discusses her resear...
Feb 05, 2014•28 min
Prostitution in the community: The criminologist, Sarah Kingston, discusses her study of the impact of sex work on local residents and businesses. Policies restricting sex work are often based on assumptions about the alleged negative effects of commercial sex on everyday lives. This is the first comprehensive text to examine the empirical basis of this assumption. How do neighbourhoods react to the presence of prostitutes and male clients in their areas? Do stereotypes of stigma and deviance me...
Jan 29, 2014•29 min
Why Music Matters: David Hesmondhalgh, Professor of Music and Media Industries, examines the role of music in our lives and the ways in which it enriches people and society, or fails to do so. What is music's political and social significance beyond the pleasure it brings? He's joined by Caspar Melville, Lecturer in Global Creative and Cultural Industries. Also, 'Bhangra and Belonging': Falu Bakrania, US lecturer in Race and Resistance Studies, discusses her research into the social life of Brit...
Jan 22, 2014•28 min
Faith and doubt: an ethnographic study into political and spiritual convictions in an age of uncertainty. Laurie Taylor talks to the Lecturer in Anthropology, Dr Mathijs Pelkmans, about wide ranging research which suggests that the foundations of religious and secular 'faiths' are surprisingly fragile. Drawing on a diverse range of cases, from spirit mediums in Taiwan to right-wing populists in Europe, he analyses the ways that belief systems are either sustained or collapse. He's joined by Alpa...
Jan 15, 2014•28 min
Cultural passions - From a love of Proust to an enthusiasm for tennis and tarot readings; a diverse range of aesthetic pleasures excite human beings. Laurie Taylor talks to the cultural theorist and writer, Elizabeth Wilson, about the emotional commitment people bring to their enjoyment of both 'high' and 'low' culture. Professor Wilson analyses why such pleasures are sometimes seen as suspect; invoking, by turns, a fear of elitism as well a dislike of mass culture. Also, the sociologist, Alex R...
Jan 08, 2014•28 min
A Thinking Allowed special on our construction of Christmas tradition. What does Christmas mean to you - a visit to Santa's grotto with the little ones, the opening of presents before breakfast, a house festooned with sparkly lights and wreaths of ivy? Or is your Christmas an understated and low key affair? Perhaps you don't even recognise it for cultural or religious reasons. Professor Philip Hancock discusses his study into the 'elite' squad of Santa helpers who dispense seasonal cheer and gif...
Dec 25, 2013•28 min
Fashion and dress in later life: Laurie Taylor talks to the sociologist, Julia Twigg, about her study into the links between clothing and age. Throughout history certain forms and styles of dress have been deemed appropriate for people as they get older. Older women, in particular, have been advised to dress in toned down, covered up styles. Drawing on fashion theory and cultural gerontology, Professor Twigg interviewed older women, fashion editors, clothing designers and retailers. She asks if ...
Dec 18, 2013•28 min
The Great American City - US Professor of Social Sciences, Robert J Sampson, discusses his landmark research project with Laurie Taylor. Following in the influential tradition of the Chicago School of urban studies, but updating it for the twenty-first century, he argues that communities do still matter because life is decisively shaped by where we live. Neighbourhoods influences a wide variety of phenomena including teen births, altruism and crime. Not even national crisis can destroy the endur...
Dec 11, 2013•28 min
Communist 'utopia' in a Spanish village. Laurie Taylor talks to the writer, Dan Hancox, about his research into a tiny community in Andalucia which set out to create an egalitarian enclave after the demise of General Franco. Does the reality match the dream? They're joined by the social geographer, Helen Jarvis. Also, the health researcher, Nicolette Rousseau, discusses the experience and meaning of tooth loss and replacement. Producer:Jayne Egerton.
Dec 04, 2013•28 min
Sport and capitalism: Laurie Taylor talks to Professor of History, Tony Collins, about his new book which argues that modern sport is as much a product of our economic system as the factory, the stock exchange and the unemployment line. Also, The US sociologist, Lucia Trimbur, invites us into the everyday world of Gleason's gym, the last remaining institution of New York's golden age of boxing. Once the domain of white and black working class men, it's now shared with women as well as the wealth...
Nov 27, 2013•28 min
The Poppy - a cultural history. Laurie Taylor talks to renowned archaeologist and anthropologist, Nicholas Saunders, about his account of the origins, history and many meanings of the Remembrance Day Poppy. From ancient Egypt to Flanders Field to Afghanistan. How did a humble flower of the field become a worldwide icon? They're joined by Professor of History, Joanna Bourke. Also, Reader in Education, Kalwant Bhopal, discusses her research into the experience of traveller children in schools. Pro...
Nov 20, 2013•28 min
The truimph of Neoliberal economics in the post Recession world. Laurie Taylor talks to US Professor of Economics, Philip Mirowski, about his analysis of why neoliberalism survived, and even prospered, in the aftermath of the financial meltdown of 2008. Although it was widely asserted that the economic convictions behind the disaster would be consigned to history, Mirowski says that the opposite is the case. He claims that once neoliberalism became a Theory of Everything, providing a revolutiona...
Nov 13, 2013•28 min
