Social Science Bites
Episodes
Melinda Mills on Sociogenomics
01 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Western feud over "nature vs. nurture" dates back at least to an essay by John Locke in 1690. The idea that it's an absolute binary – that our a...
Jo Boaler on Fear of Mathematics
02 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
That some people are just naturally gifted at mathematics is pretty well accepted as conventional wisdom. With enlightened teaching we can all become ...
Bev Skeggs on Social Media Siloing
01 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Most people," says Goldsmiths sociologist Bev Skeggs, "think they're using Facebook to communicate with friends. Basically they're using it to reveal...
Sabina Alkire on Measuring Poverty
01 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Is it just a low wage that conjures up the term when we talk about "crushing poverty"? Or is it really a host of other issues that likely accompany th...
Tom Chatfield on Critical Thinking and Bias
02 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Philosopher Tom Chatfield's media presence – which is substantial – is often directly linked to his writings on technology. But his new book is on...
Ioanna Palaiologou on Play
31 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Amid all the handwringing about kids and the damage smartphones are doing them, child psychologist Ioanna Palaiologou is upbeat. "I don't think," she...
Al Roth on Matching Markets
01 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Al Roth on Matching Markets The system that runs the ride-sharing company Uber doesn't just link up passengers and drivers based on price. It also ...
Theresa Marteau on Healthy Environments
07 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Under normal circumstances, if something was hurting you, you'd likely stop doing it. Except, well, as Theresa Marteau of Cambridge University's Depar...
Mary Bosworth on Border Criminology
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Borders," says Mary Bosworth, "are the key issue of our time." And so, says the criminologist, "in response to the mass migration that's happening,...
Whose Work Most Influenced You? A Social Science Bites Retrospective, Part 3
16 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ask a number of influential social scientists who in turn influenced them, and you'd likely get a blue-ribbon primer on the classics in social science...
Chris Grey on Organizations
01 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What is an "organization?" According to Chris Grey, the guest in this Social Science Bites podcast, in many ways it's a moment in time. "An organizat...
Scott Atran on Sacred Values
03 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How lightly, or how tightly, do you hold your values? Are there things you hold dear, which almost automatically excite your emotions, for which you w...
Whose Work Most Influenced You? Part 2
15 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Communist Manifesto. Novelist Don DeLillo's account of a big moment in baseball. Works by Wittgenstein and Focault. And a famous –and shocking –...
Gary King on Big Data Analysis
01 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's said that in the last two years, more data has been created than all the data that ever was created before that time. And that in two years hence...
Whose Work Most Influenced You? A Social Science Bites Retrospective
15 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Which piece of social science research has most inspired or most influenced you? This question has been posed to every interview in the Social Science...
Michelle Baddeley on the Herd
01 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Human beings are social animals, notes economist Michelle Baddeley, and as such the instinct to herd is hardwired into us. And so while this has chang...
Sandy Pentland on Social Physics
03 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For Alex "Sandy" Pentland, one of the best-known and widely cited computational social scientists in the world, these are halcyon days for his field. ...
Jennifer Hochschild on Race in America
01 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Between a series of high-profile shootings of black men by police and the election of Donald Trump by a bifurcated electorate, the racial divide in th...
Anna Machin on Romance
01 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine if we could find the secret to romance and love, the real secret, one vetted by science. Wouldn't that be … well, what would that be. Accord...
Karenza Moore on Dance Culture
03 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The culture of dance clubs has a way of popping up in policy debates around the world. In September, for example, the closure of London's Fabric night...
Michael Billig on the Royal Family and Nationalism
01 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"One of the values of the social sciences," argues Michael Billig, "is to investigate what people take for granted and to bring it to the surface." I...
Mirca Madianou on Technology and Everyday Life
15 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It's often remarked that technology has made the world a smaller place. While this has been especially true for those with the wherewithal to buy the...
Iris Bohnet on Discrimination and Design
10 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
While intentional bias generally is an ugly thing, it's also relatively easy to spot if the will exists to do so. But what about bias where individua...
Michael Burawoy on Sociology and the Workplace
04 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Burawoy is a practitioner of what we might call 'extreme ethnography.' Since earning his first degree -- in mathematics -- from Cambridge Univ...
Stephen Reicher on Crowd Psychology
26 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
There is a school of thought that groups often bring out the worst in humankind. Think only of the Charles Mackay book on “Extraordinary Popular Del...