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.

Janet Carsten on the Kinship of Anthropology
Social Science Bites
January 13, 2016

Janet Carsten on the Kinship of Anthropology

Read Now
Ted Cantle on Segregation
Social Science Bites
November 16, 2015

Ted Cantle on Segregation

Read Now
William Davies on the Happiness Industry
Social Science Bites
September 28, 2015

William Davies on the Happiness Industry

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

Sheldon Solomon on Fear of Death

Read Now
Steven Lukes on Durkheim

Steven Lukes on Durkheim

In this Social Science Bites podcast, social theorist Steven Lukes tells interviewer Nigel Warburton how Émile Durkheim’s exploration of issues like labor, suicide and religion proved intriguing to a young academic and enduring for an established one.

Read Now
John Brewer on C. Wright Mills

John Brewer on C. Wright Mills

C. Wright Mills was one of the most important sociologists of the 20th century. He believed that sociology could change people’s lives, and that sociologists, far from being neutral, should help bring about such change, and his ideas would fuel ‘60s counter-culture. In this Social Science Bites podcast, John Brewer reveals the full man behind the icon.

Read Now
Peter Lunt on Erving Goffman

Peter Lunt on Erving Goffman

Erving Goffman has been called the most influential American sociologist of the 20th century thanks to his study of the social interactions of everyday life. In this Social Science Bites podcast, social psychologist Peter Lunt discusses his own inquiries into Goffman and how he approached his subjects with “an ethnographer’s eye.”

Read Now
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 …

Read Now
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.

Read Now
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.

Read Now
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.

Read Now
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?

Read Now

Subscribe to our mailing list

Get the latest news from the social and behavioral science community delivered straight to your inbox.