Thinking Allowed

Latest Episodes:

Vertical Cities - India's property boom Feb 08, 2017

Show notes

Vertical cities: Laurie Taylor explores the increasing segregation of cities by height. Stephen Graham, Professor of Cities & Society at Newcastle University, ponders 'class war from above'. His exploration of the built environment around the world, both above and below ground, finds that the wealthy have gone upwards; into "islands" and "archipelagos" of residential towers, hotels, private clubs, roof gardens, restaurants, swimming pools, even heliports. They enjoy fresher air, commanding vistas, safety from crime and speedy travel. Privileged Chinese citizens retreat to air conditioned citadels in the sky; wealthy Thai commuters enjoy the Skytrain, Bangkok's elevated railway for the fortunate few. Graham lays out a landscape where architecture reflects and reinforces divisions with ever greater brazenness. India's property boom. In recent years, India has seen a sudden and spectacular urban transformation. Gleaming business complexes encroach on fields and villages. Giant condominium communities offer gated security and pristine pools. Spacious, air-conditioned malls have sprung up alongside open-air markets. Llerena Guiu Searle , Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Rochester, interviewed estate agents, investors and developers, documenting the new private sector partnerships and practices that are bringing prosperity, but also making India's cities ever more inaccessible to the urban poor Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The brave new world of virtual workers; also globalisation, the old and the new. Feb 03, 2017

Show notes

Globalisation: the history of the movement of goods, knowledge and people. Laurie Taylor talks to Richard Baldwin, Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and author of a groundbreaking new study. They were joined by Diane Coyle, Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester. Juliet Webster, Director of Work and Equality Research at the LSE, explores the brave new world of virtual workers - characterised by short contracts, flexible working hours and the blurring of boundaries between work and free time. Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Health divides - Counting global health Jan 25, 2017

Show notes

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 than English men. Across Europe, women in the poorest communities may live 10 years less than those in the richest. People who live just a few miles apart can have gaps in life expectancy of up to 25 years. Laurie Taylor talks to Clara Bambra, Professor of Public Health Newcastle University Medical School, whose research draws on international case studies to examine the cause of these health inequalities and to consider what changes would be needed so that geographical location need not be a matter of life or death. Global health: moving beyond metrics - From maternal mortality to malaria, statistical methods are used to measure sickness, injury and suffering across the world. But Vincanne Adams, Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of California, argues that such well-intentioned 'evidence based' interventions often fail. Drawing on rich case histories from countries including Nigeria and Haiti, she argues that we are missing other ways of knowing and tackling global health problems.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Age of noise - British drinking Jan 18, 2017

Show notes

The 'age of noise': How a preoccupation with unwanted sounds came to characterise modernity. The 20th century saw the expansion of cities and technological change. The sounds of motor cars, vacuum cleaners and gramaphones filled the air, leading social commentators to forecast the end of civilisation and a breakdown in mental health. Did noise provide people with a way of talking about their social anxieties? Does it still serve this function today? Laurie Taylor talks to James Mansell, Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Nottingham and Marie Thompson, Lecturer in the School of Film and Media at the University of Lincoln. British drinking and the night time carnival. William Haydock, Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at the University of Bournemouth, argues that our alcohol consumption is peculiarly 'carnivalesque', combining ritual with risk taking and spectacle. Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Sexual violence in the Bangladeshi War of Independence - Global danger and the risk to research Jan 11, 2017

Show notes

Sexual violence in the Bangladeshi War of Independence. Laurie Taylor talks to Nayanika Mookherjee, Reader in Socio-Cultural Anthropology at Durham University, about the internationally unprecedented state designation of raped women as birangonas (brave women) in 1971. Her groundbreaking study was shortlisted for the 2016 BSA/Thinking Allowed Ethnography Award. She analysed the pubic memory or wartime rape perpetrated by the West Pakistani army and local Bengali men in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during that conflict. This national commemoration of the women's suffering counters the assumption of silence and shame amongst victims of rape in war. But what did it mean to the women themselves? Has their elevation to the status of heroines ensured their integration into their communities and acceptance by their menfolk?

Also, Ruben Andersson, Associate Professor at Oxford University's Department of International Development, discusses the expansion of 'no go' areas of the world since 9/11. He argues that alleged regions of 'risk' are seen as posing a particular danger to Western states and citizens. How can ethnographers who, by definition, do not wish to observe from a distance, address this challenge to their research? Professor Andersson was the winner of the 2015 Ethnography Award for his study of clandestine migration on the borders of Europe.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Super Rich: The 1% of the 1% Jan 04, 2017

Show notes

The 'Super Rich' - Laurie Taylor presents a special programme on the 1% of the 1%. Rowland Atkinson, Research Chair in Inclusive Society at the University of Sheffield, Roger Burrow, Professor of Cities at Newcastle University and Emma Spence, PhD Researcher at Cardiff University explore the origins of this wealthiest of elites and their impact on our cities and lives.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Laurie Taylor discusses the relationship between literature and sociology. Dec 28, 2016

Show notes

What is the relationship between literature and sociology? Laurie Taylor discusses fiction and the real world with crime writer Denise Mina, criminologist Dick Hobbs and English literature lecturer Nick Bentley.

From Charles Dickens' "Oliver" to Alan Sillitoe's "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", literary descriptions of the social world - and working class life in particular - have often been called "realistic". But how has 'real life' been misrepresented by scholars and novelists alike? Can ethnography produce fictions of its own? And what skills are vital for any writer who wants to capture the complexity of everyday life?

Plus, is it really true, as WH Auden once suggested, that "poetry makes nothing happen"? Laurie and guests discuss the influence of literature and sociology on attitudes and policy, reflecting on how both can make a meaningful impact.

Producer: Alice Bloch.

Musicians Union - women heavy metal fans Dec 21, 2016

Show notes

The Musicians Union: Laurie Taylor explores the history of musicians efforts to be seen as workers, as well as entertainers. Martin Cloonan, Professor of Popular Music Politics at the University of Glasgow, drew on extensive archive and interviews with Union employees and members to provide a comprehensive assessment of the role of the MU in the nation's ballrooms, orchestras, recording studios and radio stations. They're joined by Caspar Melville, Lecturer in Global Creative and Cultural Industries, SOAS, University of London. Also, women heavy metal fans. Rosemary Hill, Lecturer in Sociology at University of Leeds, examines the tensions between being a 'metal' fan and being a woman. From the media representation of women rock fans as groupies to the widely held belief that hard rock and metal is masculine, being a music fan is an experience shaped by gender. How do female fans negotiate their place in a male dominated music scene? Producer:Jayne Egerton.

Men and Violence - Stag Parties Dec 14, 2016

Show notes

Men, Masculinities and Violence. Laurie Taylor talks to Anthony Ellis, lecturer in Criminology and Sociology at the University of Salford, about his ethnographic study conducted with men involved in serious crime and violence over the course of two years in the North of England. How do some men come to value physical violence as a resource? Historian Joanna Bourke joins the discussion. Also, stag parties and consumerism. Daniel Briggs, Professor in Criminology at the Universidad Europea de Madrid, unpicks the commercial and emotional motivations of men taking part in stag 'dos'. Is such stereotypical excessive and deviant behaviour ultimately rooted in commercial ideology?

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

Success and Luck - Cosmopolitanism and Private Education Dec 07, 2016

Show notes

Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy. Laurie Taylor talks to Robert H. Frank, Professor of Economics at Cornell University's Johnson School of Management, about the role luck has to play in life's successes, or failures. Frank argues that chance is much more significant than people give it credit for. Lynsey Hanley, writer and Visiting Fellow at the Research Centre for Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University, joins the discussion. Also, Claire Maxwell, Reader of Sociology of Education at the UCL Institute of Education, University College London, talks about her co-authored paper looking at the attitudes of privately-educated young women towards the idea of cosmopolitanism. Did they feel like global citizens, or were their aspirations confined to the local and the national?

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

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