Thinking Allowed

Push Buttons

03 Oct 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Push Buttons: Laurie Taylor explores the pleasure, panic and the politics of pushing. The touch of a finger can summon a taxi, turn on a TV, call for ...

Creativity

26 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Creativity - has it become the meaningless buzz word for our times? Oli Mould, Lecturer in Human Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, d...

Post-Truth

19 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Post-Truth – Laurie Taylor explores a very modern phenomenon, or is it? He’s joined by Steve Fuller, Professor of Sociology at the University of W...

Drifters

12 Sep 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Drifters: What place does the train hopping hobo have in working class history and the popular imagination? The travelling vagrant is a figure, at onc...

Smart Cities

25 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Smart Cities: Laurie Taylor presents a special edition of Thinking Allowed which was recorded at the Open University in Milton Keynes. He was joined b...

Beauty - Ugliness

18 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Beauty and ugliness - to what extent are our ideas about physical perfection culturally and socially constructed? Laurie Taylor talks to Gretchen Hend...

Suburbia Revisited

11 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Suburbia Revisited: Has it ceased to be a place of leafy affluence as poverty has migrated from the city? New research suggests the decline of an Amer...

Selfies - disconnection from ICTs

04 Jul 2018

Contributed by Lukas

'Selfies' - every day Facebook users upload 350million photos, Instagrammers share 95 million photos and there are 3 billion Snapchat snaps. A central...

Gangs and spirituality

27 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Gangs, spirituality and desistance from crime - what leads people away from criminality? Laurie Taylor talks to Ross Deuchar, Director of the Interdis...

China today

20 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Will China rule the world? Laurie Taylor talks to Yuen Yuen Ang, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, and author of...

Light and Dark

13 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Illumination and darkness: Laurie Taylor is joined by Tim Edensor, Reader in Cultural Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University, and author of a...

Size Discrimination

06 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor is joined by Lynne Vallone, Professor of Childhood Studies, to discuss her book, Big and Small, in which she explores the often uncomfor...

Business Schools

30 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor examines the role of business schools in the UK and abroad. Martin Parker joins him in the studio to discuss the arguments in his book S...

Law and Order

23 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Law and Order: the legacy - 40 years ago, GF Newman's quartet of plays, Law & Order, provoked calls from MPs for the author to be arrested for sed...

Marx and Marxism

16 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sociological discussion programme. May 2018 sees the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx's birth. Laurie Taylor explores the philosopher's ideas and legacy...

The Internet and Democracy

09 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Internet and Democracy: Laurie Taylor analyses the social and political consequences of our digitised world. In light of recent data breach scanda...

Universal Basic Income

02 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Universal Basic Income: Laurie Taylor asks if it's the answer to an increasingly precarious job landscape. Could it bring greater financial freedom fo...

Menswear Revolution

25 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The menswear revolution: Laurie Taylor explores the transformation in men's clothing with Jay McCauley Bowstead, lecturer in Cultural and Historical S...

Winner of 2018 BSA/Thinking Allowed Ethnography Award

18 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The winner of the 2018 BSA/Thinking Allowed Ethnography award. Laurie Taylor talks to Anna Lora-Wainwright, Associate Professor in the Human Geography...

Ethnography Award Shortlist 2018

11 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This year's winning entries explored complex lives and worlds. How did Dalits, member of India's lowest caste, shake the political establishment in th...

Mixed-race families

04 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

'Mixed-race' is the fastest growing ethnic group in the UK. But how do multiracial parents identify their own children? When is a mixed-race heritage ...

Dating at university, Online dating

28 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

'Hook up' culture - Laurie explores a new sexual culture on American campuses and asks if it has a British counterpart. Casual sex in higher education...

Sacrifice

21 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Sacrifice - Laurie Taylor explores the many meanings of the term. Terry Eagleton, Distinguished Professor of Literature at the University of Lancaster...

Racial inequality now, Women and political language

14 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Racial inequality now - what explains its persistence? Nasar Meer, Professor of Race, Identity and Citizenship at the University of Edinburgh asks why...

Women and democracy - the language of power

07 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Has Democracy Failed Women?' Drude Dahlerup, Professor of Political Science at Stockholm University asks why women are still under-represented in poli...

The White Working Class.

28 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The white working class - are they the left behind? Noam Gidron, a Fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton Universi...

Artisanal food - Natural foods

21 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The politics and meaning of 'alternative' foods: Laura Miller, Associate Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University, discusses her study of 'Natura...

A Valentine Day's special

14 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

A Valentine Day's Special. Laurie Taylor explores changing attitudes to infidelity and considers a cross cultural history of rings. Wendy Doniger, Dis...

Populism

07 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Populism - Laurie Taylor explores the origins, meaning and rise of populist politics, across the Left as well as the Right. He's joined by Mukulika Ba...

Stigma

31 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Stigma - Laurie Taylor explores the origins and meaning of Erving Goffman's famous sociological concept and the ways it's being re-cast by social scie...

Countercultural seekers, Slum tourism

24 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Counter cultural seekers: Laurie Taylor talks to Mark Liechty, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and author of a new b...

Countercultural seekers/ slum tourism.

24 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Counter cultural seekers and meaning of the hippy trail. Also, slum tourism in Mumbai.

Police culture

17 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Police culture, socialisation and identity. Laurie Taylor explores the process by which police officers become 'blue'. He's joined by Sarah Charman, a...

The sensory landscape of the city

10 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The sensory landscape of the city. Laurie Taylor explores the scenes, sounds, smells and tastes of urban life. He's joined by Daniel Silver, Associate...

The Housing Crisis, Squatting in Amsterdam

03 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The housing crisis and beyond: Laurie Taylor talks to Anna Minton, Reader in Architecture at the University of East London & author of 'Big Capita...

Working-class actors, Class and classical music

27 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Working class actors: Laurie Taylor asks if acting is becoming an increasingly exclusive and elite profession. He talks to the actor Julie Hesmondhalg...

Christmas Television

20 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Christmas Television: Laurie Taylor explores the history, meaning and variety of this very British tradition. What's its role in the construction of a...

The Trojan Horse Affair - Religion in Schools

14 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor asks if there was an attempt to Islamicise schools in Birmingham.

The New Economy

06 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The New Economy: How people turn themselves into 'brands' in the quest for work. Laurie Taylor talks to Ilana Gershon, Associate Professor of Anthropo...

Politics and Emotion

29 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A revolution in feeling: How the Enlightenment forged our understanding of human emotion and the ways in which this relates to the contemporary politi...

GDP, Mali music

27 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

GDP - Laurie Taylor talks to Lorenzo Fioramonti, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Pretoria, and author of a new book which exposes ...

Affluence

15 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Affluence - from the Kalahari desert to Wall St; Laurie Taylor explores contrasting conceptions of material plenty and the 'good life'. He's joined by...

Marxism, 'Red' Globalisation

08 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor talks to David Harvey, world authority on Marx's thought.

War In The Air

01 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor explores the history of aerial bombing and tear gas.

Hospices - Palliative Care

25 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor explores end of life care through the ages.

Whither the Welfare State?

18 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor examines the history of the welfare state.

The Restaurant: A Taste of Class

11 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor gets under the skin of the restaurant.

Robots and AI

04 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor takes a cool, non dystopian look at future possibilities

Sectarianisation - the Middle East

27 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor asks if a new theory offers an explanation for conflicts in the Arab world.

The Mafia - organised crime

20 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The Mafia and organised crime from Sicily to Japan and the UK

Management Jargon

13 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Why is meaningless speech in the workplace so ubiquitous?

Exhaustion: a historical study of weariness.

26 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Exhaustion: is extreme fatigue a peculiarly modern phenomenon?

The Subway

19 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor goes underground - from New York to Delhi.

The Secret World of Hair

13 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

An anthropological journey through the world of hair.

Fertility Holidays - Male Infertility

05 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Laurie Taylor discusses a study of IVF tourism and also male infertility.

Global inequality - 'signs of nation'

28 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Is the Global South catching up with the North?

Heritage and preservation

21 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Heritage beyond saving: Laurie Taylor talks to Caitlin DeSilvey, associate professor of cultural geography & author of a new book which journeys f...

Sport and Philosophy - Inside an African-Caribbean Football Club

14 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The philosophy of sport, and the evolution of a African Caribbean football club.

Fashion and class

07 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Fashion and Class: Laurie Taylor talks to Daniel Smith, Lecturer in Sociology at Anglia Ruskin University, and author of a study of the 'branded gentr...

Doctors at war - Wasting GP's time

24 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Doctors at War: a candid account of a trauma surgical team based, for a tour of duty, at a field hospital in Helmand, Afghanistan. Laurie Taylor talks...

Russian prison visitors - prison boundaries

17 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Relatives of Russian Prisoners: Judith Pallot , Professor of the Human Geography of Russia at the University of Oxford talks to Laurie Taylor about he...

Craft work - 'dirty' work

11 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Masters of Craft: Laurie Taylor talks to Richard Ocejo, Associate Professor of Sociology at City University of New York and author of a study which ex...

Insuring against disasters - electronic finance

03 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Disaster insurers: Laurie Taylor talks to Rebecca Bednarek, Senior Lecturer in Management at Birkbeck, University of London, about a study into a glob...

Drugs in warfare

26 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

DRUGS IN WARFARE: Laurie Taylor talks to Lukasz Kamienski, Lecturer in Political Science at at Jagiellonian University, Poland, and author of a book w...

Elite education

19 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

ELITE EDUCATION: Laurie Taylor explores the ways in which the most prestigious schools and universities around the world sustain inequality. Debbie Ep...

Special programme on winner of Ethnography award

12 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The winner of the British Sociological Association/Thinking Allowed Ethnography award 2017 is Hilary Pilkington, Professor of Sociology at the Univers...

A special programme devoted to the BSA/Thinking Allowed Ethnography Shortlist

05 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A special programme devoted to the BSA and Thinking Allowed Ethnography Award Shortlist for 2017. Thinking Allowed, in association with the British So...

Grandfathers - Dementia carers

22 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Grandfathers today: Laurie Taylor talks to Ann Buchanan, Senior Research Associate in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the Universi...

Teen bedrooms - Skydivers

15 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Get out of my room! A social history of teen bedrooms in America. Laurie Taylor talks to Jason Reid, Lecturer in History at Ryerson University who cha...

Money - how to break the power of the banks

08 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The production of money: how to break the power of the banks. Laurie Taylor talks to Ann Pettifor, Director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIM...

Squatting; a cross cultural history. Plus taking ones clothes off in public.

01 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Squatting: Laurie Taylor discusses the first popular history of squatting in Europe and North America. Alexander Vasudevan, Associate Professor of Hum...

Platform Capitalism

22 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Platform Capitalism: How the most powerful tech companies of our time are revolutionising the global economy. Laurie Taylor talks to Nick Srnicek Lect...

Terrorism: does it work? - The 'Hotline'

15 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Terrorism: does it ever work? Laurie Taylor talks to Richard English, Professor of Politics at Queen's University, Belfast and author of a historical ...

Vertical Cities - India's property boom

08 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Vertical cities: Laurie Taylor explores the increasing segregation of cities by height. Stephen Graham, Professor of Cities & Society at Newcastle...

The brave new world of virtual workers; also globalisation, the old and the new.

03 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Globalisation: the history of the movement of goods, knowledge and people. Laurie Taylor talks to Richard Baldwin, Professor of International Economic...

Health divides - Counting global health

25 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Health divides: Where we live can kill us. Americans live 3 years less than their counterparts in France and Sweden. Scottish men survive 2 years less...

Age of noise - British drinking

18 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The 'age of noise': How a preoccupation with unwanted sounds came to characterise modernity. The 20th century saw the expansion of cities and technolo...

Sexual violence in the Bangladeshi War of Independence - Global danger and the risk to research

11 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Sexual violence in the Bangladeshi War of Independence. Laurie Taylor talks to Nayanika Mookherjee, Reader in Socio-Cultural Anthropology at Durham Un...

Super Rich: The 1% of the 1%

04 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The 'Super Rich' - Laurie Taylor presents a special programme on the 1% of the 1%. Rowland Atkinson, Research Chair in Inclusive Society at the Univer...

Laurie Taylor discusses the relationship between literature and sociology.

28 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

What is the relationship between literature and sociology? Laurie Taylor discusses fiction and the real world with crime writer Denise Mina, criminolo...

Musicians Union - women heavy metal fans

21 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The Musicians Union: Laurie Taylor explores the history of musicians efforts to be seen as workers, as well as entertainers. Martin Cloonan, Professo...

Men and Violence - Stag Parties

14 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Men, Masculinities and Violence. Laurie Taylor talks to Anthony Ellis, lecturer in Criminology and Sociology at the University of Salford, about his e...

Success and Luck - Cosmopolitanism and Private Education

07 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy. Laurie Taylor talks to Robert H. Frank, Professor of Economics at Cornell University's Joh...

Foie gras & the politics of taste - Memories of Irish food

30 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Foie gras: The politics of taste. Laurie Taylor talks to Michaela DeSoucey, Assistant Professor of Sociology at North Carolina State University, about...

Racial segregation, Dementia and hair care

23 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Racial segregation in the United States: Laurie Taylor explores a provocative new study which sheds light on the racism which still endures today. Nic...

Population change - Chronic illness

16 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Population change - how will it transform the world? Laurie Taylor talks to Sarah Harper, Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford, about ...

Evangelicals - Troubled families

09 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Evangelicals in London: Laurie Taylor talks to Anna Strhan, Lecturer In Religious Studies at the University of Kent, about her study of the everyday l...

Drone warfare, Fitness instructors

02 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Drone warfare: from soldiering to assassination? Laurie Taylor talks to the US philosopher, Laurie Calhoun, about her study of remote controlled killi...

Hoods - Construction Blacklist

26 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Hood: a cultural history of a seemingly neutral garment which has long been associated with violence, from the Executioner to the KKK and inner city g...

House of Commons - Voting and Inequality

19 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The House of Commons - an anthropologist's guide to the political 'tribe'. Emma Crewe, Professorial Research Associate at SOAS, spent two years doing ...

Rentier capitalism - Protest camps

12 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The Corruption of Capitalism & the rise of the rentiers. Laurie Taylor talks to Guy Standing, Professor at the School of Oriental and African Stud...

Political polarisation, An anthropologist's guide to naming

05 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Political polarisation in America. Laurie Taylor talks to Marc Hetherington, Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University, about why distru...

Higher Education - Crisis or Change?

28 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Higher education - crisis or change? A special programme exploring the role, meaning and future of a university education in a globalised world. It wa...

Shyness - Names

21 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Shyness: Laurie Taylor talks to Joe Moran, Professor of English and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University and the author of study of th...

Men dressing up - The male 'suit'

14 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The male 'suit': Christopher Breward, Professor of Cultural History at the University of Edinburgh, talks to Laurie Taylor about the myriad forms and ...

Airport security, Retiring to Spain

27 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Airport security: what are the costs of a surveillance regime which turns us all into potential suspects? Laurie Taylor talks to Rachel Hall, Associat...

Food bank Britain, Food poverty in Europe

20 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Hunger pains: Life inside foodbank Britain. Kayleigh Garthwaite, Leverhulme Trust funded researcher in the Centre for Health and Inequalities Research...

The English Defence League; 'Real' immigrants

13 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The English Defence League: A study of the individuals who comprise this far right movement. Hilary Pilkington, Professor of Sociology at the Universi...

Political women and language, The morality of sleep medication

06 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Political women, gender and speech: Laurie Taylor talks to Deborah Cameron, Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communication at the University o...

Good neighbours, The connection between sport and domestic abuse

29 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Good Neighbours and the democracy of everyday life. Our neighbours do small favours and greet us on the street. They also, on occasion, startle us wit...