Author: Social Science Bites

Welcome to the blog for the Social Science Bites podcast: a series of interviews with leading social scientists. Each episode explores an aspect of our social world. You can access all audio and the transcripts from each interview here. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @socialscibites.

Sheldon Solomon on Fear of Death
Social Science Bites
July 30, 2015

Sheldon Solomon on Fear of Death

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Steven Lukes on Durkheim
Audio
May 19, 2015

Steven Lukes on Durkheim

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John Brewer on C. Wright Mills
Audio
March 24, 2015

John Brewer on C. Wright Mills

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Peter Lunt on Erving Goffman
Social Science Bites
February 25, 2015

Peter Lunt on Erving Goffman

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Trevor Marchand on Craft

Trevor Marchand on Craft

It’s an unusual approach for an academic: a hands-on approach. Literally a hands-on approach. Trevor Marchand is an anthropologist interested in how information about crafts is transferred from expert to novice. This has led him to Nigeria, Yemen, Mali, and East London …

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Peter Ghosh on Max Weber and ‘The Protestant Ethic’

Peter Ghosh on Max Weber and ‘The Protestant Ethic’

Max Weber is recognized as a father of modern social science, but his work, developed in pre-World War I Germany, sometimes suffers in translation to today. In the latest Social Science Bites podcast, his pre-eminent interpreter explains how Weber remains relevant.

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Linda Woodhead on the New Sociology of Religion

Linda Woodhead on the New Sociology of Religion

Religiosity has changed for the majority of populations in Britain and the West, and so a new kind of way to study it must arise. In this Social Science Bites podcast, Linda Woodhead discusses the new sociology required to study this nuanced spiritual landscape, and what some of the implications are on the secular world.

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Ivor Crewe on Psephology

Ivor Crewe on Psephology

In this episode of the Social Science Bites podcast series, political scientist Ivor Crewe, the current president of Britain’s Academy of Social sciences and the master of Oxford’s University College, discusses the modern art, and sometime science, of election polling.

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Sarah Harper on the Population Challenge for the 21st Century

Sarah Harper on the Population Challenge for the 21st Century

Around the world, populations are growing older. But is that because people are living longer? Or could it be that there are fewer younger people to dilute the demographic pool? And what about aging itself — when exactly is ‘old’ these days?

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David Goldblatt on the Sociology of Football

David Goldblatt on the Sociology of Football

As the World Cup kicks off, sportswriter and sociologist David Goldblatt discusses his unique academic vantage point of the beautiful game in the latest Social Science Bites podcast.

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Bruce Hood on the Supernatural

Bruce Hood on the Supernatural

Listen as Nigel Warburton talks with developmental psychologist Bruce Hood about the very natural tendency to look to the supernatural to explain events.

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Saskia Sassen on Before Method

Saskia Sassen on Before Method

Here’s an idea: social scientists should reflect critically on the prevailing concepts and categories before launching into empirical work with an existing framework. In this episode of the Social Science Bites podcast, urban sociologist Saskia Sassen discusses that concept, called “before method,” with Nigel Warburton.

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