Alison Gopnik on Care

FromSocial Science Bites

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Alison Gopnik on Care

FromSocial Science Bites

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Length:

25 minutes

Released:

Mar 4, 2024

Format:

Podcast episode

Released:

Mar 4, 2024

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Social Science Bites is a podcast series interviewing major figures in social science, made in association with SAGE

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John Brewer on C. Wright Mills: The late sociologist C. Wright Mills is in the eyes of many best summed up by one incredibly influential book, The Sociological Imagination, in which he famously urges the academy to "translate private troubles into public issues." The native of Texas... by Social Science Bites
16 min listen
William Davies on the Happiness Industry: Happiness, says sociologist Will Davies, is “all the rage” right now. Not actually being happy, by the way, but offering to provide happiness, or to measure it, or to study it, to legislate it, or even to exploit it. If that sounds... by Social Science Bites
19 min listen
Peter Lunt on Erving Goffman: Erving Goffman has been called the most influential American sociologist of the 20th century (although he was born and did his early studies in Canada) thanks to his study and writing centered on the social interactions of everyday life. In books... by Social Science Bites
21 min listen
Steven Lukes on Émile Durkheim: If anyone can lay claim to be the father of sociology, it’s Émile Durkheim. By the time of the French academic’s death in 1917, he’d produced an extraordinary body of work on an eclectic range of topics, and had become a major... by Social Science Bites
18 min listen
Jennifer Hochschild on Race in America: 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 the United States has achieved a renewed public prominence. While discussion of this divide had faded... by Social Science Bites
20 min listen
Iris Bohnet on Discrimination and Design: 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 individuals or institutions haven't set out to discriminate -- but the net effect is bias? "[M]uch of... by Social Science Bites
16 min listen
Sabina Alkire on Measuring Poverty: 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 that lack of money? Economist Sabina Alkire has spent her career crafting the measures that... by Social Science Bites
20 min listen
Whose Work Most Influenced You? A Social Science Bites Retrospective: 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 Bites podcast series, but never made part of the audio file made public. Now, as we approach the... by Social Science Bites
13 min listen
Michael Billig on the Royal Family and Nationalism: “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.” In this Social Science Bites podcast, Billig, a professor of social science at Loughborough... by Social Science Bites
21 min listen
Ted Cantle on Segregation: The concept of “community cohesion” rose to prominence in the detritus of Bradford and Harehills, Burnley and Oldham, Northern English towns where 14 years ago rioting broke out between Asian and white communities. Called on by the Home... by Social Science Bites
16 min listen
Chris Grey on Organizations: 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 organization,” he tells interviewer David Edmonds, “is also a momentary crystallization of an... by Social Science Bites
18 min listen
Michael Burawoy on Sociology and the Workplace: Michael Burawoy is a practitioner of what we might call 'extreme ethnography.' Since earning his first degree -- in mathematics -- from Cambridge University in 1968, his CV has been studded with academic postings but also jobs in manufacturing,... by Social Science Bites
26 min listen
Karenza Moore on Dance Culture: 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 nightclub – called “one of the most influential and internationally renowned electronic music venues... by Social Science Bites
18 min listen
Mirca Madianou on Technology and Everyday Life: 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 latest gadget and to travel at will, but it's also true for economic migrants. Those... by Social Science Bites
18 min listen
Tom Chatfield on Critical Thinking and Bias: Philosopher Tom Chatfield’s media presence – which is substantial – is often directly linked to his writings on technology. But his new book is on critical thinking, and while that involves humanity’s oldest computer, the brain, Chatfield... by Social Science Bites
31 min listen
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,... by Social Science Bites
22 min listen
Mary Bosworth on Border Criminology: “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, the criminal justice system is shifting. This shouldn’t surprise us – all other... by Social Science Bites
26 min listen
Stephen Reicher on Crowd Psychology: 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 Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,” the U.S. Founding fathers’ visceral fear of... by Social Science Bites
27 min listen
Whose Work Most Influenced You? Part 2: The Communist Manifesto. Novelist Don DeLillo’s account of a big moment in baseball. Works by Wittgenstein and Focault. And a famous –and shocking – behavioral experiment. These are a few of the supremely inspiring works which have... by Social Science Bites
13 min listen
Sheldon Solomon on Fear of Death: Unlike the character in the movie <em>The Sixth Sense</em>, we actually <em>don’t</em> see dead people. Westerners go to great lengths to excise thoughts about death (real death, that is, not movie death) or being in the... by Social Science Bites
21 min listen
Sandy Pentland on Social Physics: 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. One of the creators of the MIT Media Lab and currently the director of the... by Social Science Bites
20 min listen
Michelle Baddeley on the Herd: 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 changed from (in most cases) physically clumping into groups, it does translate into behavior linked to... by Social Science Bites
16 min listen
Ioanna Palaiologou on Play: Amid all the handwringing about kids and the damage smartphones are doing them, child psychologist Ioanna Palaiologou is upbeat. “I don’t think,” she says, “we should worry as much as the media is making it. ... If the elements are there,... by Social Science Bites
17 min listen
Anna Machin on Romance: 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. According to Anna Machin, an anthropologist who actually does study romance, it would be disheartening.... by Social Science Bites
21 min listen
Gary King on Big Data Analysis: 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, we’ll be able to say the same thing. Gary King, the head of the Institute for Quantitative... by Social Science Bites
26 min listen
Janet Carsten on the Kinship of Anthropology: The study of kinship, long the bread and butter of the anthropologist, has lost a bit of its centrality in the discipline, in large part, suggests Janet Carsten, because it became dry and fusty and associated mostly with the nuclear family. But as one... by Social Science Bites
19 min listen
Theresa Marteau on Healthy Environments: Under normal circumstances, if something was hurting you, you’d likely stop doing it. Except, well, as Theresa Marteau of Cambridge University’s Department of Public Health and Primary Care has explored deeply, in some key areas, you’re likely... by Social Science Bites
24 min listen
Al Roth on Matching Markets: 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 has to connect the two based largely on where they are geographically. It is, says Nobel... by Social Science Bites
25 min listen
Scott Atran on Sacred Values: 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 would make the costliest of sacrifices? These are the sorts of questions Scott Atran discusses in this... by Social Science Bites
24 min listen
Whose Work Most Influenced You? A Social Science Bites Retrospective, Part 3: 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. Wright Mills’ The Sociological Imagination. Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death. Irving... by Social Science Bites
12 min listen

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Alison Gopnik on Care

Alison Gopnik on Care

Titles in the series (100)

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