Sociology for Dark Times
Everything all at once: Wars. Pandemics. Climate change. Neoliberalism. Authoritarianism. White supremacy...Every month, I ask a fellow sociologist the following questions: How can we, as sociologists, intervene in this moment, individually or collectively? How has their work changed over the last few years in response to the times? What are their sources of hope for change?
Episodes
9 episodes
Campus activism across the spectrum. Amy Binder, Johns Hopkins University
Over the last few months, students on college campuses all over the world have been protesting the mass slaughter in Gaza. I was one of the majori...
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1:10:04
Palestine, Israel and the crisis of the nation state. Stellan Vinthagen, UMass-Amherst
A few weeks ago, Hamas murdered hundreds of unarmed people in Israel, including many children and elderly. The sadism and depravity of this killing spree was remarkable even by the standards of the long history of violence against Jews. Israel ...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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48:43
Relational inequality! Prudence Carter, former ASA President / Brown University
Our conversation previews a few themes from Prudence’s presidential address at the ASA annual meeting in Philadelphia this weekend. Prudence identifies key deficiencies of liberal democracies like the U.S. that have allowed the social and polit...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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56:56
Labor on the move! Eric Blanc, Rutgers University
Is organized labor in the U.S. making a comeback? Over the last few years, unionization efforts have proliferated across the service sector, in Amazon, Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, just to name a few. The movie and TV industry is facing rare, simul...
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52:38
Community engagement! Nadia Kim, Texas A & M
Within the next week or so, the US Supreme Court may end affirmative action as we know it. The path to this began in 1997, when the University of Michigan was sued for its affirmative action programs. My guest this month is Nadia Kim, who like ...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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54:31
Sociological imagination! Anna Branch, Rutgers University
This month I spoke with Anna Branch, sociologist and senior Vice President of equity at Rutgers University. Of all the sociologists I’ve talked with so far, Anna was the first to question my starting point that these are especially dark times. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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48:51
Solidaristic research! Leslie McCall, CUNY
For this episode I talked with Leslie McCall of the City University of New York. Leslie wonders if we should be asking different kinds of research questions, focusing on the possibilities for solidarity among the majority of people in the U.S. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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50:10
New mass movement! Cedric de Leon, UMass-Amherst
Everything all at once: Wars. Pandemics. Climate change. Neoliberalism. Authoritarianism. White supremacy...I ask my fellow sociologists the following questions: How can we, as sociologists, intervene in this moment, individually or collectivel...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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53:05
Public sociology! Joya Misra, ASA President / UMass-Amherst
Everything all at once: Wars. Pandemics. Climate change. Neoliberalism. Authoritarianism. White supremacy...I ask my fellow sociologists the following questions: How can we, as sociologists, intervene in this moment, individually or collectivel...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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47:09