Our guest this week is Theda Skocpol, who joins us in the Contexts Podcast studio to discuss the state of American civic and political participation today. Topics include the impact of the internet on politics, loudmouths in the news media, John Stewart and the prospects for social science research today.
Wes Longhofer also joins us again to discuss a discovery that explains why we’re not all free riders.
Also: let us know what you think of the podcast so far by taking our survey!
This episode, we speak with Barbara Risman about her call for a Council of Social Science Advisors featured in her Spring 2009 One Thing I Know column for Contexts. We talk about how policy might be different if social scientists played a greater role and also about sociology and socialism.
If you’re interested in the idea of a Council for Social Science Advisors, and you’re heading to San Francisco for the ASA’s this weekend, be sure to attend Open Forum: Does the Obama Administration Need a Social Science Scholars Council? A Public Forum, Saturday August 8 at 2:30 pm.
This episode also includes a discussion of a discovery on health & unemployment.
Also: let us know what you think of the podcast so far by taking our survey! It’s very short & your feedback will help us figure out what’s working, what’s not working & how we can best steer the Contexts Podcast Juggernaut into the Future!
After a bit of a delay, we’ve got a great episode for you. First, we talk to Wendy Espeland and Michael Sauder about their Spring 2009 Contexts Feature, Rating the Rankings (which you can read online for free, so check it out!).
Also, Shannon Golden shares a discovery with perhaps the best journal article title ever, Round Trip to Hell in a Flying Saucer.
This episode, we talk with the authors of two recent Contexts features on higher education. We speak to Michael Hout about his Winter 2009 “One Thing I Know” column (which you can read online in its entirety here), and then William Beaver tells us about his article, A Matter of Degrees, from our Spring 2009 issue.
Kristin Haltinner drops by again to share a discovery about women rugby players.
Everyone knows the private sector is hurting thanks to the economic crisis, but what about non-profit institutions like universities, art museums, and social service & charitable organizations?
Special Guest Co-Host Wes Longhofer and Arturo Baiocchi talk to Woody Powell about the troubled state of non-profits during today’s economic downturn.
Plus, Arturo shares a discovery from Social Psychology Quarterly on the relationship between income, happiness and marriage.
Michèle Lamont visits the Contexts office to discuss two of our current projects, one on the politics of academic fellowships and how they are rewarded, and the other on what makes a “successful society.”
Arturo also shares a discovery on the relationship between health and marriage.
What’s the difference between “genocide” and “crimes against humanity”? Both are terrible crimes, so why does the distinction matter? John Hagan addresses just this question in his new book, Darfur and the Crime of Genocide. While Hagan was on campus at the University of Minnesota for a lecture about the book, we sat down with him to discuss the meaning of genocide, the role of language in creating the conditions for genocide and the politics of numbers.
Also, Kristin Haltinner shares a fascinating discovery about how white power activists manage their identity.
Michael Goldman and Wes Longhofer drop by to talk about their Winter 2009 Contexts feature, Making World Cities. Michael and Wes have spent extensive time in Bangalore, India studying the effects of globalization on Indian cities. Listen in as they explain the complications, contradictions and paradoxes of cities in this global age.
Also, Jesse shares a discovery about the narrowing gender gap in drunk driving arrests from Criminology.
Paul Mattessich and Ela Rausch from Wilder Research stop by to discuss how they use social science research to help communities improve their quality of life. Be sure to check out their article in our Winter 2009 issue, Communities that Don’t Bowl in the Fog.
In our Discoveries segment, Tim Ortyl discusses the first representative GLBT survey in California and how it improves our knowledge of the GLBT community.
Katherine McCoy, author of our Winter 2009 cover article, Uncle Sam Wants Them, talks with Arturo about the rise of private military corporations in Iraq and Afghanistan. After you listen in here, be sure to head over to thesocietypages.org where you can read Katherine’s article in its entirety. For free!
Also, Wes Longhofer stops by to share a discovery from Politics and Society that may surprise you: corrupt government doesn’t necessarily equal ineffective government.
