Thinking Allowed

DOGS – Laurie Taylor explores the making of the modern companion animal, from working animals to pampered pets. Chris Pearson, Professor of Environmental History at the University of Liverpool, charts the changing fortunes of hunting dogs, street dogs and show dogs, as they moved from the rural to the urban, shedding utilitarian roles to become cherished family members. Also, Mariam Motamedi Fraser, Honorary Research Fellow at University College, London, asks if dogs belong with humans and the natural bond is less natural than we assume. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Simon Jarrett, Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, about the social history of people with learning disabilities, from 1700 to the present days. Using evidence from civil and criminal court-rooms, joke books, slang dictionaries, novels, art and caricature, he explores the explosive intermingling of ideas about intelligence and race, while bringing into sharp focus the lives of people often seen as the most marginalised in society. They’re joined by Magdalena Mikulak, a Research Fellow in Health at Lancaster University who has researched the way the term ‘behaviours that challenge others’ which are attributed to 20% of those with learning disabilities, can stigmatise and exclude people from society,Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Louise Ryan, Professor of Sociology at the London Metropolitan University, about her oral history of the Irish nurses who were the backbone of the NHS for many years. By the 1960s approximately 30,000 Irish-born nurses were working across the NHS, constituting around 12% of all nursing staff. From the rigours of training to the fun of dancehalls, she explores their life experiences as nurses and also as Irish migrants, including those times when they encountered anti Irish racism. They’re joined by Bronwen Walter, Emerita Professor of Irish Diaspora Studies at Anglia Ruskin University, who discusses the way that Irish migration offers an unusual opportunity to explore wider questions about the experience of immigrants and how ethnic identities persist or change over time. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs at The New School in New York City about her research into the propaganda formulas deployed by Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin over the last two decades. As the great granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1964, she offers personal, as well as political insights, into these developments, drawing on previous periods of oppression in Russian history. She argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has intensified 'hard' propaganda, leading to a pervasive presence of military images in every day life and the rehabilitation of Josef Stalin, the former dictator of the Soviet Union, as a symbol of Russian power. She suggests that lessons from past eras, described by such Soviet classics as Alexander Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, can offer small grounds for optimism and hope, as ordinary people absorb alternative narratives. How else to explain the fact that George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, has been a bestseller for many years and has seen a surge in popularity since the start of the war in Ukraine?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Molly Conisbee, Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath, about her ‘people’s’ history of mortality, beyond queens and aristocrats. From the plague pits to grave-robberies and wakes, she explores how cycles of dying, death and disposal have shaped our society. What did it mean to die well in the past, what does it mean now? Also, Chao Fang, Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool, talks about his study of the meaning of a good death in China & how it differs from western notions which centre the dying person’s wishes rather than family harmony.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Seth Rockman, Associate Professor of History at Brown University, talks to Laurie Taylor about his study into the stories of the plantation goods which reveal how the American national economy was once organised by slavery. He tracks the shoes made by Massachusetts farm women that found their way to the feet of a Mississippi slave and the entrepreneurs that envisioned fortunes to be made from “planter’s hoes”. Also, Lea David, Assistant Professor in the School of Sociology, University College Dublin, describes the emotional force of everyday items found at the sites of atrocities, from a shoe to a broken watch and victims’ garments. Personal property recovered from places of death including concentration camps, mass graves, and prisons have become staples of memorial museums. How do these objects take on such power, and what are the benefits and pitfalls of deploying them for political purposes? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor is joined by Jennifer Chudy, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College, Boston, who discusses her pioneering exploration of racial sympathy. She looks at the reasons why racial inequality in America prompts distress amongst some white people, but not others, and why that sympathy does not necessarily translate into solidarity and political action. Andrea Sangiovanni, Professor of Philosophy at King's College, London explores the nature of solidarity and how definitions have changed. Calls for solidarity are heard everywhere but what does it mean, in practice, and how is it distinct from altruism, justice and fellow-feeling? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Helen Charman, Fellow and Assistant College Lecturer in English at Clare College, University of Cambridge, about her study of mothers fighting for alternative futures for themselves and their children. Is motherhood an inherently political state, one that poses challenges to various status quos? Also, Caitlin Killian - Professor of Sociology, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey argues that US mums are held to ever higher standards and now subject to an expanding list of offences - from falling down the stairs while pregnant to letting a child spend time alone in a park - which were not seen as criminal behaviours a generation ago. Are mothers likelier to be held accountable than fathers? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Ivan Markovic, Lecturer in Human Geography at Durham University, about the unique social atmosphere surrounding tobacco use in modern Britain, from its encouragement as part of the Home Front ‘mood management’ during the Second World War to the impact of smoking on 1980s workplace regulations and the UK ban on its use in public places in 2007. Does smoking still play a significant part in the British cultural imagination? Also, Tricia Starks, Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, discusses cigarettes and the Soviet smoking habit. How did the USSR become the first mass smoking society whilst simultaneously opposing this quintessential capitalist product?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Fatima Rajina, Senior Legacy in Action Research Fellow at the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, about changing perceptions of dress among British Bangladeshi Muslim men in London’s East End. Why has the thobe, a garment traditionally associated with the Arab States, come to signify a universal Muslim identity? And why have Muslim men's clothing choices attracted so little scrutiny, compared to Muslim women's? Also, Teleica Kirkland, Lecturer in the Cultural and Historical Studies Department at the London College of Fashion, explores the performative elegance of the Windrush generation, whose respectable presentation was a route to seeking dignity and respect in British society. What were the limitations of using fashion as a way to gain acceptance?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Vron Ware, Visiting Professor at the Gender Institute of the LSE, about the reality of living next to a huge army community in the UK. Talking to both sides of the divide, she explores the impact of the sprawling military presence on Salisbury Plain, an area of British countryside which is home to rare plants and wildlife. Is military occupation a positive asset in terms of conservation and ecology? Also, Sunaura Taylor, Assistant Professor in the Division of Society and Environment at UC Berkeley, describes environmental damage below the ground in Tucson Arizona and its ripple effects through the largely Mexican American community living above. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to the writer, Dan Hancox, about the part that crowds play in our lives and how they made the modern world. From Notting Hill carnival-goers and football matches to M25 raves and violent riots, what do we know about the madness of the multitude? Also, Lisa Mueller, Associate Professor of Political Science at Macalaster College, Minnesota, asks why protests succeed or fail. Examining data from 97 protests, she finds that more cohesive crowds are key. Drilling down into two British protests, Occupy London and Take Back Parliament, protesters who united around a common goal won more concessions than ones with multiple aims. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Nina Edwards, the author of a new study which unravels the intimate narratives woven into the fabric of our most personal garments. Is there a profound and surprising significance to the garments we wear beneath our outer clothing? Also, Shaun Cole, Associate Professor in Fashion at the University of Southampton, considers the enduring question aimed at men over the choice of boxers or briefs and explores the future direction of men’s undergarments.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Wealth: Laurie Taylor talks to Brooke Harrington, Professor of Economic Sociology at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, about the world of offshore finance, how it works and its impact, globally. As part of her research, she earned her own wealth management certificate and spent nearly eight years interviewing other professionals in the field, as well as visiting the 18 most popular tax havens in the world—from Mauritius, off the southeast coast of Africa, to the Cook Islands in the middle of the South Pacific - observing and interviewing the experts who keep the secrets and protect the fortunes of the global ultra-rich. Does offshore finance have costs for all of us at a time when democracies seem under threat and deepening inequalities are destabilising the world? Also, Guido Alfani, Professor of Economic History at Bocconi University, Milan, explores a 1000-year history of the super-rich in the West from the medieval period to today. He finds that their position within society has long been fragile and precarious. How have the uber rich been viewed by society, over time, and are they ripe for a re-appraisal?Producer: Jayne Egerton

When, where, and who gets to touch and be touched, and who decides? How does touch bring us closer together or push us apart? These are urgent contemporary questions, but they have their origins in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain. Laurie Taylor talks to Simeon Koole, Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and History at the University of Bristol about his new study of the way in which the crowded city compelled new discussions about touch, as people crammed into subway cars, skirted criminals in London's dense fogs and visited tea shops, all the while negotiating the boundaries of personal space. How did these historical encounters shape and transform our understanding of physical contact into the present day? Also, digital touch. Carey Jewitt Professor of Technology at the Institute of Education, London, explores the way technology is transforming our experience of touch. Touch matters. It is fundamental to how we know ourselves and each other, and it is central to how we communicate. So how will the the digital touch embedded in many technologies, from wearable devices and gaming hardware to tactile robots and future technologies, change our sense of connection with each other. What would it be like if we could hug or touch digitally across distance? How might we establish trust or protect our privacy and safety? How might radically different forms of touch impact our relationships and the future?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor explores the fascination for true crime stories. He's joined by Jennifer Fleetwood, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at City, University of London, whose latest work considers the remarkable rise in the number of people who speak publicly about their experience of crime. Personal accounts used to be confined to the police station and the courtroom, but today bookshops heave with autobiographies by prisoners, criminals, police and barristers while streaming platforms host hours of interviews so how easy is it for the 'truth' to come out?Louise Wattis, Assistant Professor in the Department: Social Sciences ·at Northumbria University, Newcastle looks at the skyrocketing interest in true crime as a form of popular entertainment. What do we know about the appeal of 'Hardman' biographies of violent criminals, a hugely popular subgenre, particularly for male readers?Producer: Jayne Egerton

After the Second World War, a vast experiment took place in which adventure playgrounds transformed bombsites and waste ground in the UK, creating opportunities for children, beyond the sanitised safety of more conventional play spaces with swings and see saws. Laurie Taylor talks to Ben Highmore, Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex about the range of people whose celebration of children's imaginative capacities re-invented the notion of play, from Northern Europe to North America. Designers, social reformers, and even anarchists, saw these sites of fun as the foundation for the creation of citizens and agents of social change. What remains of those post war playgrounds, in the here and now, and what can the astonishing ambition of those spaces tell us about the power of play in an age of risk aversion?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor lifts the lid on a sector of the economy associated with wealth, innovation & genius. Mark Graham, Professor of Internet Geography at the Oxford Internet Institute, uncovers the hidden human labour powering AI. His study, based on hundreds of interviews and thousands of hours of fieldwork, is the first to tell the stories of this army of underpaid and exploited workers. Beneath the promise of a frictionless technology that will bring riches to humanity, the interviews he has conducted reveal a grimmer reality involving a precarious global workforce of millions labouring under often appalling conditions. Also, Paula Bialski, Associate Professor for Digital Sociology at the University of St. Gallen in St. Gallen, Switzerland, discusses her research with software developers at a non-flashy, run-of-the-mill tech company. Beyond the awesome images of the Gods of Silicone Valley, she finds that technology breaks due to human-related issues and staff are often engaged in patch up and repair, rather than dreaming up the next killer app. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Ann Murcott, Honorary Professorial Research Associate, at SOAS, University of London about the origins and development of food packaging, from tin cans and glass jars to bottles and plastic trays. How central is packaging to global food systems and should we be concerned about wasteful packaging ? Also, Anastacia Marx de Salcedo, offers a spirited defence of processed food from a feminist, economic, and public-health perspective.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Laurie Taylor talks to Jana Costas, Chair of People, Work & Management at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany about the unseen cleaners beyond the shiny surface of Potsdamer Platz, a designer micro-city within Berlin's city centre. Behind the scenes they pick up cigarette butts from pavements, scrape chewing gum from marble floors and scrub public toilets, long before white-collar workers, consumers and tourists enter the complex. How do they feel about work which some would stigmatise as degrading? How do they salvage a sense of personal dignity? Also, Katie Bailey, Professor of Work and Employment at Kings College, London unpacks her analysis of accounts related by nurses, creative artists and lawyers as to why they find their work meaningful. Producer: Jayne Egerton