Conspiracy theories, social justice & inequality

Culture & Inequality Podcast

#Podcasting Education #Culture Inequality #Inequality

35:00

The healing power of fitness goes far beyond physical benefits—for today’s guest, it’s a form of self-expression and a celebration of what the body can do. In this episode, host Nora McInerny sits down with fitness personality Ivylis Rivera, who shares her deeply personal journey of navigating life with Chronic Migraine while holding onto her passion for movement. Ivylis opens up about the struggle of staying active while facing the fear of triggering a headache or migraine attack and the resilience it takes to keep pushing forward—a resilience that carried her through the challenging journey of finding a Chronic Migraine treatment plan that worked for her. Join Nora and Ivylis as they explore the concept of “soft living,” a philosophy Ivylis embraces—staying active, listening to your body, and building trust in oneself. Click here for Product Information, including Boxed Warning and Medication Guide, or visit https://abbv.ie/prescribing_info See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

3 years ago 1:03:30

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This episode is about conspiracy theories and their relation to inequality. We talk about this with Elisa Sobo and Jaron Harambam, two scholars who have studied contemporary conspiracy theories in a range of domains, from vaccines, Covid-19 and Big Pharma, to theories that claim the moon is an abandoned spaceship brought here by reptilians who control our world leaders. Both, moreover, have argued -- somewhat controversially -- that “we need to move beyond the positivistic reflex to debunk conspiracy theories as unfounded and irrational”. The arguments they offer for taking conspiracy theories seriously – though maybe not literally—are strongly connected with inequality: inclusivity, democracy, and social justice. Today, therefore, we ask: how are conspiracy connected with inequalities, and how can – or should -- this connection with inequality inform our stance towards conspiracy theories? Guests: - Elisa Sobo, professor and chair of Anthropology, San Diego State University - Jaron Harambam, assistant professor of participatory AI, VU University Amsterdam Hosted by Giselinde Kuipers, professor of cultural sociology at KU Leuven Readings and materials: 1. Grodzicka, Elżbieta Drążkiewicz, and Jaron Harambam. "What should academics do about conspiracy theories? Moving beyond debunking to better deal with conspiratorial movements, misinformation and post-truth." Journal for Cultural Research 25.1 (2021): 1-11. 2. Harambam, Jaron, and Stef Aupers. "Contesting epistemic authority: Conspiracy theories on the boundaries of science." Public understanding of science 24.4 (2015): 466-480. 3. Harambam, Jaron. "Against modernist illusions: why we need more democratic and constructivist alternatives to debunking conspiracy theories." Journal for Cultural Research 25.1 (2021): 104-122. 4. Sobo, Elisa J. "Conspiracy theories in political-economic context: lessons from parents with vaccine and other pharmaceutical concerns." Journal for Cultural Research 25.1 (2021): 51-68. 5. Sobo, Elisa. “What Does the American Dream Have to do With the COVID-19 Vaccine?” Sapiens.org, 25 February 2021. https://www.sapiens.org/culture/covid-19-vaccine-protestors/

28 episodes

Conspiracy theories, social justice & inequality

Culture & Inequality Podcast

published 3 years ago

MP3•Episode home

28 episodes

#Podcasting Education #Culture Inequality #Inequality

All episodes

1
Risk and Loss in Times of Climate Crisis 51:27

10 days ago51:27

51:27

In this episode we’ll be discussing the climate crisis through the lens of risk, loss and the role of sociology. For a long time, environmental issues sat on the margins of the discipline, rarely appearing in core journals or debates. That’s starting to change, with climate change gaining more attention in recent sociological research—but given the urgency of the crisis, we might still ask: are sociologists doing enough? Another key point is how sociological knowledge is valued outside the discipline. Climate science has long been dominated by the natural sciences, with institutions like the IPCC reflecting that imbalance. Yet as the need for societal transformation becomes more pressing, sociology’s insights into behavior, systems, and power could be more relevant than ever. As guests we have Catherine Mei Ling Wong, an Assistant Professor of Cultural Sociology at the University of Amsterdam, specializing in environmental sociology, risk governance, and sustainability transitions. Her research explores how cultural, institutional, and epistemological factors shape perceptions of risk in areas like nuclear energy, climate policy, and green finane. She joined by Rebecca Elliott, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science, specializing in the intersections of climate change, risk governance, and the moral economy. Her research examines how environmental risks, particularly flooding, are managed through institutions like insurance, and how these mechanisms influence societal responses to climate change. Thijs van Dooremalen is the host of this episode an Assistant Professor at Leiden University's Institute of Security and Global Affairs, specializing in the sociology of crises and public discourse. His research focuses on how major events—such as 9/11, elections, and extreme weather—transform national public spheres, employing mixed methods to analyze cultural and political shifts across media, politics, and policymaking. Further reading for this episode - Wong, C. M. L., & Lockie, S. (2020). Climate policy and industry elite perceptions of risk and uncertainty: a cross-national study. Society & Natural Resources, 33(11), 1399-1418. - Wong, C. M. L. (2018). Energy, Risk and Governance. Palgrave Macmillan. - Wong, C. M. L. (2015). The mutable nature of risk and acceptability: A hybrid risk governance framework. Risk analysis, 35(11), 1969-1982. - Elliott, R. (2024). The sociology of property value in a climate-changed United States. Social Problems, spae074. - Elliott, R. (2021). Underwater: Loss, flood insurance, and the moral economy of climate change in the United States. Columbia University Press. - Elliott, R. (2018). The sociology of climate change as a sociology of loss. European Journal of Sociology/Archives Européennes de Sociologie, 59(3), 301-337. Podcast editors of this season: Luuc Brans, Kobe De Keere, Sanne Pieters & Geert Veuskens This podcast is co-financed from the BINQ project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant No. 101052649. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. This podcast is also kindly supported by the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) at the University of Amsterdam.…

1
Our Digital Economic Lives 43:05

24 days ago43:05

43:05

We’re back with a new season on anything culture and inequality! From clickbait culture and influencer marketing to content farms and algorithm-driven platforms, we kick off the 2025 season by unpacking the mechanics behind our increasingly digital economic lives. How has the digital realm evolved into a powerful economic force that's reshaping the way we live, work, and consume? We examine the spread of digital payments, the influence of tokens, and the growing power of algorithms in decision-making. Along the way, we'll consider broader shifts like platform labor, surveillance capitalism, and the emergence of a new digital feudalism. We’re joined by Ashley Mears, Professor and Chair of Cultural Sociology and New Media at the University of Amsterdam. She’s the author of Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model and Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit, and is widely recognized as an expert on the culture and economics of aesthetics and digital labour. Also with us is Rachel O’Dwyer, a media scholar, writer, and lecturer at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. A leading authority on digital payments, blockchain, and the rise of tokens, Rachel brings a sharp critical lens to the infrastructures that shape our digital transactions and value systems. She’s is the author of Tokens: The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform. This episode's host is Kobe De Keere, an Associate Professor of cultural sociology at the University of Amsterdam. He explores the moral and cultural dimensions of economic life, focusing on topics such as valuation, the labour market, and cryptocurrencies. Further reading for this episode - O'Dwyer, R. (2023). Tokens: The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform. Verso Books. - Mears, A. (2023). Bringing Bourdieu to a content farm: Social media production fields and the cultural economy of attention. Social Media+ Society, 9(3), 20563051231193027. - Schüll, Natasha Dow. Addiction by design: Machine gambling in Las Vegas. Princeton university press, 2012. - Bailey, P. (1990). Parasexuality and glamour: The Victorian barmaid as cultural prototype. Gender & History, 2(2), 148-172 - Swartz, L. (2020). New money. Yale University Press. Podcast editors of this season: Luuc Brans, Kobe De Keere, Sanne Pieters & Geert Veuskens This podcast is co-financed from the BINQ project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant No. 101052649. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. This podcast is also kindly supported by the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) at the University of Amsterdam.…

1
Seeing Others: Michèle Lamont on The Power of Recognition in a Divided World 1:03:11

1 year ago1:03:11

1:03:11

In this episode, we host a special guest: Michèle Lamont (professor of Sociology at Harvard). We discuss her new book Seeing Others: How Recognition Works--And How It Can Heal a Divided World, which centers on the role of recognition and dignity in countering inequality after decades of neoliberalism. Based on interviews with cultural change agents in the American cultural industries and Gen Z college students, we unpack how new narratives of hope may lead to a more equal and inclusive future. We also discuss the role of sociology in taking part in a the conversation on inequality, dignity and recognition, nuancing the work of psychologists and economists. Guest: Michèle Lamont (professor of Sociology and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University) Host: Giselinde Kuipers (professor of Sociology at KU Leuven university) Editing: Luuc Brans (PhD student at KU Leuven University) Book links EU + UK: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/319027/seeing-others-by-lamont-michele/9780241454633 USA: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Seeing-Others/Michele-Lamont/9781982153786…

1
Reprise: Culture, inequality, boundaries. Theoretical traditions and core texts 1:11:58

2 years ago1:11:58

1:11:58

***This is a rerecording, updated, and better version of our very first episode, which we originally recorded in 2020. We hope you will enjoy this new version! *** In this first pilot episode, we discuss the core themes of the course: how do culture and inequality relate? This meeting will discuss why and how this has become such a central theme in sociology and other disciplines (notably cultural studies, anthropology), how this relation this been theorized in various theoretical traditions (notable Bourdieu's field theory, British cultural studies inspired by Stuart Hall , and American cultural sociology in the vein of Michele Lamont); and how has this been empirically analyzed? Moreover, we will offer a first exploration of the continued relevance of these insights on culture and inequality for contemporary societies, and for the everyday life of (young) people today. --- This week's readings: Bourdieu, P. (1994). Social space and symbolic space. In Calhoun, Craig et al. (eds.) Contemporary Sociologi-cal Theory, 345-358. Bourdieu, P. (1986) The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, 241-258. New York: Greenwood. Hall, S. (1980). Encoding/decoding. In Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Love, and Paul Willis (eds.), Culture, Media, Language, pp. 128–38. London: Hutchinson. Link: https://we.riseup.net/as-sets/102142/appadurai.pdf#page=202 Lamont, M. (1992). Implications, contributions and unanswered questions. In Money, Morals and Manners, 174-192. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kuipers, G. (2006). Television and taste hierarchy: The case of Dutch television comedy. Media, Culture & Society 28(3): 359-378. Additional materials Video: Carle, Pierre (2002). La sociologie est un sport de combat. Pierre Bourdieu. Documentary. https://vimeo.com/92709274 Video: Hall, Stuart (1997). Representation and media. Open University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGh64E_XiVM Video: Lamont, Michele (2016). Doing sociology. American Sociological Association. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIR1mYsy510 Presentation: Giselinde Kuipers & Luuc Brans Audio production edit: Luuc Brans Theme music by Timothy Dowd We are grateful for the generous support from European Centre for the Study of Culture and Inequality…

1
Conspiracy theories, social justice & inequality 1:03:30

3 years ago1:03:30

1:03:30

1
Migration special 3: Media and Migration 1:02:12

3 years ago1:02:12

1:02:12

Migration has been a characteristic of societies for centuries. Humans have always migrated to either escape harsh lives, search for better ones, or both. Continuing immigration flows and increasing diversity in many societies have led to more complex processes of belonging and integration, as well as the emergence of cross-border engagements of migrants, organizations and institutions. In this episode, we focus on the role played by media and communication in the different aspects of migration, ranging from media representations of migrants to the mediated communication exchanges conducted in digital spaces, from interactions between relevant stakeholders in the different levels of migration governance through the political and economic side of migrants’ lives to the role played by hands-on intercultural mediation and digital solidarity projects. To talk about these topics, Amanda Paz Alencar (Dept of Media and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam) invited Myria Georgiou (Dept of Media and Communications, LSE) and Earvin Cabalquinto (School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University) – experts on the topic of media and migration.…

1
Migration special 2: Football, Race and Racism 58:42

3 years ago58:42

58:42

Migration special 2: Football, Race and Racism by Culture & Inequality Podcast

1
Music, Social Media and Migration 56:34

3 years ago56:34

56:34

In this first episode of the special Culture & Inequality x IMISCOE The Migration Podcast trilogy, we discuss the linkages between migration and music. For centuries, music has been a powerful source of individual and social well-being, something which studies from psychology to sociology to medicine continue to demonstrate. As people migrated, music migrated with them – causing the rapid and continuing spread of hundreds of music genres in countries across the globe. Since digitalization, music has become more mobile than ever before, as people can connect with their favorite music as long as they have an internet connection. This leads us to ask: How do migrants in the 21st century use music during processes of migration? To talk about this, Julian Schaap (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands) has invited Daniela Jaramillo Dent (Universidad de Huelva, Spain and Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands) and Marco Martiniello (Université de Liège, Belgium). This a special crossover episode between the Migration Podcast and the Culture and Inequality Podcast. The first in a series of three, this episode investigates how Music and Social Media matter in Migration (and vice-versa). Head over to The Migration Podcast to learn more about migration: https://www.imiscoe.org/news-and-blog/podcast?msclkid=47f01fb5d06a11ec8cee483d0b0b504f…

1
Culture in Times of War I: Humour and jokes in war 1:02:45

3 years ago1:02:45

1:02:45

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we will be hosting a series of special episodes on the cultural aspects of war. New events like war crequire meaning making, new icons, symbols, ideas to make sense of what is going on in life. But war also suppresse culture as some things cannot be said anymore or have dangerous consequences. We dive into these and related topics over the next weeks with scholars from Ukraine, Russia, and across the world. This week, we talk with Anastasiya Fiadotova* and Ksenia** about the humour emerging during the current war. How do people joke and why do people do so? We talk about the functions of humor are in war and its limits. Rooted in Estonia, Belarus and Russia, our guests are close to this war and provide a candid assessment of the war’s cultural implications. * Anastasiya (Nastya) Fiadotova is a research fellow in the department of Folkloristics at the Estonian Literary Museum in Tartu, Estonia. **last name and institutional affiliation withheld for personal security reasons. Presentation by prof. dr. Giselinde Kuipers (Sociology, KU Leuven) Editing by Luuc Brans…

1
Race in practice 1:02:23

4 years ago1:02:23

1:02:23

Race is a pervasive and omnipresent dimension of inequality, both within societies and at a global scale. Yet it is the one dimension that is most difficult to talk about. Even the word itself, race, is fraught. How to use the concept of race? How is race done in practice? And how does it create and perpetuate social inequalities? We talk about this with our guests Amade M’Charek, professor in anthropology of science at the University of Amsterdam, and our regular Julian Schaap, assistant professor in the sociology of music at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. We discuss how race is done in domains like forensics and music, and what this tells us about the limits and potentialities of the concept. **Readings: * Abu El-Haj, Nadia (2007) “The Genetic Reinscription of Race.” Annual Review of Anthropology 36: 283–300. * Essed, Philomena (1991) Understanding Everyday Racism: An Interdisciplinary Theory. Newbury Park: Sage - Chapter 5: The integration of racism into everyday life: The story of Rosa N. and Chapter 7: Conclusions. * M'charek, Amade. (2020) "Tentacular faces: Race and the return of the phenotype in forensic identification." American anthropologist 122.2: 369-380. Recommended readings: Schaap, Julian, and Pauwke Berkers. (2020) "“Maybe it’s… skin colour?” How race-ethnicity and gender function in consumers’ formation of classification styles of cultural content." Consumption Markets & Culture 23.6: 599-615. Essed, P., & Trienekens, S. (2008). ‘Who wants to feel white?’Race, Dutch culture and contested identities.Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(1), 52-72.…

1
Special episode: Hartmut Rosa, resonance and the sociology of the good life 51:48

4 years ago51:48

51:48

In this episode, we are joined by Hartmut Rosa, one of today’s ‘big thinkers’ in sociology, to talk about his work on the concept of resonance and how it relates to inequalities. After becoming popular in Germany, his work is now gaining ground in anglophone sociology too. But what does resonance mean? What is a sociology of the good life? And how does resonance theory affect how we think about and understand social inequalities? By dealing with these questions, we discover blindspots of current inequality studies and explore directions for new research. Join us for this special episode with Hartmut Rosa to learn more about his social theory of resonance. Hartmut Rosa is a professor of Sociology at the Friedrich Schiller Universität in Jena and Director of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies in Erfurt (both in Germany). He is interviewed by dr. Julian Schaap (Erasmus University Rotterdam) & prof. dr. Giselinde Kuipers (KU Leuven). Readings: ‘Escalation: the crisis of dynamic stabilisation and the prospect of resonance’ in: Dörre, K.; S. Hertenich & H. Rosa (2015) Sociology, Capitalism, Critique. New York: Verso (translated by Loren Balhorn & Jan-Peter Herrmann) Introduction to: Rosa, H. (2019) Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World. London: Polity (translated by James Wagner)…

1
Gender, bodies, and elites 48:36

4 years ago48:36

48:36

In this episode, we talk with prof. dr. Ashley Mears (Boston University) and dr. Anne Monier (ESSEC Paris) about gender and the body in contemporary elites. Both sociologists have done extensive ethnographic research on elites – respectively the global VIP party circuit, and the Philantropic scene of the 'American friends' of French cultural institutions. Their ethnographic work sheds light on the way gender operates in contemporary elites. What can a “gender lens” contribute to our understanding of today’s elites? And more specifically: what is the role of women – as a dominated social category – in this exclusive and dominant segment of society? And how does ethnographic work help us to answer these questions? Readings and materials: Glucksberg, Luna (2018) A gendered ethnography of elites: women, inequality, and social reproduction. Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, 81. pp. 16-28. Mears, A. (2015). Girls as elite distinction: The appropriation of bodily capital. Poetics, 53, 22-37. Mears, A. (2020) Five Surprising Things I Learned from Partying with Rich People. Literary Hub https://lithub.com/five-surprising-things-i-learned-from-partying-with-rich-people/ Monier, A. (2018). The role of social capital in transnational elite philanthropy: the example of the American Friends groups of French cultural institutions. Socio-Economic Review, 16(2), 387-410. Monier, A. (2021) Women’s philanthropy: an invisible phenomenon. The conversation https://theconversation.com/womens-philanthropy-an-invisible-phenomenon-157927 Recommended readings Bessiere, C. & Gollac, S. (2020). Le genre du capital (the Gender of Capital). Paris: La Découverte. https://celinebessiere.ovh/index.php/the-gender-of-capital/ Mears, A. (2020). Very important people: Status and beauty in the global party circuit. Princeton University Press.…

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Hiring, matching, elites, and the bank of mum and dad: culture, inequality, and social mobility 45:41

4 years ago45:41

45:41

It’s all wealth, social mobility and class ceilings in this week’s episode as we ask ourselves: How does social mobility work, and why does it matter for culture and inequality? Dave O’Brien talks with Maren Toft (Uni Oslo) and Sam Friedman (LSE) about parental wealth, cultural matching, the class ceiling and labour market outcomes. How does the bank of mum and dad contribute to a class ceiling in Norwegian social mobility? Why does it matter that you have the same cultural tastes as those hiring you for a job? And how are these cultural mechanisms of social mobility gendered? Dave, Sam and Maren discuss various papers and demonstrate how privileges in the labour market are profoundly material, cultural and symbolic at the same time. In the final stretch of the episode, they explore various promising new directions for the field of social mobility and culture research. Papers (all open access): - Adamson, M. & M. Johansson (2020) - Writing Class In and Out: Construction of Class in Elite Businesswomen’s autobiographies - Sociology https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038520962393 - Rivera, L.A. (2012) Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms - American Sociological Review https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122412463213 - Toft, M. & S. Friedman (2020) Family Wealth and the Class Ceiling: The Propulsive Power of the Bank of Mum and Dad - Sociology https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038520922537 Class assignments separately available on our Soundcloud stream.…

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Parasite: culture and inequality in a Korean yet global film 49:12

4 years ago49:12

49:12

Welcome back to our new season! It is Oscar season, and we thus watch last year's Best Picture winner Parasite, together with Ricky Changwook Kim (Handong Global University) and Dan Hassler-Forest (Utrecht University). What does this movie tells us about the link between culture and inequalities? Are these links and inequalities culturally specific? Or does the film's global success reveal a universal fatigue with growing inequality in late capitalism? **** Podcast includes major spoilers for Parasite **** Dr. Changwook Kim (Ricky) is an assistant professor of sociology at Handong Global University in South Korea. His research focuses on creative and digital industries in Korea, and the precarious labor conditions in this industry. Dr. Dan Hassler-Forest is an assistant professor at the Media & Culture studies department at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. His research interest is in the relation between politics and entertainment. ***Readings & assignments: * The film Parasite (2019) * Hagen Koo (2019): Rising Inequality and Shifting Class Boundaries in South Korea in the Neo-Liberal Era, Journal of Contemporary Asia: https://bit.ly/2RoCAcc * Hassler-Forest, D. (2020) Bong Joon-ho: Love in the Time of Capitalism. LA Review of Books: https://bit.ly/3eb2VDd * Assignments: https://bit.ly/3eeWRtm * Also see ECCI's website for additional readings and assignments: https://eucci.eu/podcast/ *** Presentation: prof. dr. Giselinde Kuipers Editing: Luuc Brans…

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Semester epilogue: where do we go from here? 54:40

4 years ago54:40

54:40

In the final episode for this semester, we look back and ahead and ask, where do we go from here? We approach this in two ways: where does the study of culture and inequality go from here? Based on our podcast, what is the direction for fruitful research? And what have been the missing links? Secondly, this is for a small part also a meta-podcast, a podcasts about podcasts: we discuss where do we go from here with the podcast as a platofrm for academic work and for the academic community? To dive into these topics, we are joined by this podcast's curator and founder, prof. Giselinde Kuipers and our regular host dr. Dave O’Brien.…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Cultural beliefs about inequality: meritocracy, egalitarianism and inequality 1:16:56

4 years ago1:16:56

1:16:56

This week, we turn the table and look at how non-sociologists, i.e. normal people believe about inequality. Giselinde speaks with dr. Jonathan Mijs (EUR/Harvard) and prof. dr. Magne Flemmen to dive deeper in the relation between rising inequalities, meritocratic beliefs, and egalitarianism. Inequalities are rising yet people seem to care increasingly less about it. Why do people display meritocratic beliefs instead? And how do lower class people in supposedly egalitarian societies perceive cultural inequalities? And how does cycling relate to egalitarianism and inequalities? Why is the Dutch royal family, one of the most wealthy families in the world, cycling? We discuss this and many more topics in this intriguing conversation. Readings —— Mijs, Jonathan (2019). The paradox of inequality: income inequality and belief in meritocracy go hand in hand. Socio-Economic Review https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwy051 Jarness, Vegard, & Flemmen, Magne (2019). A struggle on two fronts: boundary drawing in the lower region of the social space and the symbolic market for ‘down‐to‐earthness’. The British journal of sociology, 70(1), 166-189. Kuipers, Giselinde (2013). The rise and decline of national habitus: Dutch cycling culture and the shaping of national similarity. European journal of social theory 16(1): 17-35.…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Going beyond the Euro-American culture bubble 1:16:57

4 years ago1:16:57

1:16:57

In this episode, Giselinde interviews dr. Predrag Cveticanin (University of Niš, Serbia) & dr. Yang Gao (Furman University, US) as we go beyond the bubble of Western-European, North-American cultural sociology. How does cultural distinction and social capital work in Serbia? Why do Chinese tv consumers love GossipGirl? How are post-socialist Serbia and not-so-socialist-anymore China different and similar at the same time? In this episode, we speak about the applicability of French and American cultural sociological theories on taste and cultural consumption outside our Euro-American bubble. We also ask ourselves how this is all related to the future of cosmopolitanism. Join us as we dive into these and many more topics in this intriguing conversation. Readings Cvetičanin, Predrag, and Mihaela Popescu (2011) The art of making classes in Serbia: Another particular case of the possible." Poetics 39: 444-468. Gao, Yang (2016). Fiction as reality: Chinese youths watching American television. Poetics 54: 1-13. Lavie, N., & Varriale, S. (2019). Introduction to the special issue on global tastes: The transnational spread of non-Anglo-American cul ture. Poetics, 75, 101388.…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Food and Health Inequalities 1:12:32

5 years ago1:12:32

1:12:32

In this episode, dr. Julian Schaap (Erasmus University Rotterdam) talks to prof.dr. Jeroen van der Waal (EUR) and dr. Joost Oude Groeniger (EUR) about the relation between health inequalities and social and cultural inequalities. Negative health outcomes such as low life expectancy and disease prevalence are often linked to lower classes, usually followed by an explanation that looks at socio-economic causes. If healthier food is made cheaper, this will contribute to lower health inequalities, some say. However, cultural sociologists have increasingly uncovered how not only socio-economic factors, but also one's taste and cultural consumption contributes to these health disparities. How does cultural capital effect influence health outcomes? Readings Groeniger, J. O., Kamphuis, C. B., Mackenbach, J. P., Beenackers, M. A., & van Lenthe, F. J. (2019). Are socio-economic inequalities in diet and physical activity a matter of social distinction? A cross-sectional study. International Journal of Public Health 64(7): 1037-1047. Oude Groeniger, Joost, et al. (2020). How does cultural capital keep you thin? Exploring unique aspects of cultural class that link social advantage to lower body mass index." Sociology of Health & Illness.…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Elite cultures in St Barths, Milan social clubs and 'the VIP' 1:08:20

5 years ago1:08:20

1:08:20

In this episode, Giselinde speaks with Bruno Cousin (assistant professor at SciencesPo Paris) and Sébastien Chauvin (associate prof at University of Lausanne) about the elite culture of what is popularly called 'the top 1 percent'. Based on their research on the French Caribbean luxury destination of St Barths, social clubs in Milan, and Ashley Mears' ethnographic work on 'party girls' and promoters in VIP nightclubs, they discuss questions about elite culture in a time of globalization. What do we learn from ethnographic work on the top 1 percent? How do elites manage to exploit others' capital? How are elite distinction patterns changing in a time of globalization? And what are the theoretical implications for Bourdieusian approaches? Cousin, Bruno and Sébastien Chauvin (2017). Old Money, Networks and Distinction: The Social and Service Clubs of Milan’s Upper Classes. Pp. 147-165 in Cities and the Super-Rich. Real Estate, Elite Practic-es, and Urban Political Economies, edited by Ray Forrest, Sin Yee Koh and Bart Wissink. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. http://sebastienchauvin.org/wp-content/uploads/Chapter_8_Cousin_Chauvin_Old_Money_Networks_Distinction-2017-PUB.pdf Cousin, Bruno and Sébastien Chauvin (2013). Islanders, immigrants and millionaires: the dynamics of upper-class segregation in St Barts, French West Indies. Pp. 186-200 in Geographies of the Super-Rich, edited by Iain Hay. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. http://sebastienchauvin.org/wp-content/uploads/Cousin-Chauvin2013-Islanders-immigrants-millionnaires.pdf Mears, Ashley (2015). “Working for Free in the VIP: Relational Work and the Production of Con-sent.” American Sociological Review 80(6): 1099–1122 Background reading: Cousin, Bruno, Shamus Khan and Ashley Mears. 2018. “Theoretical and methodological pathways for research on elites.” Socio-Economic Review 16(2): 225-249. Mears, A. (2020) Very Important people: status and beauty in the global party circuit. Princeton: Princeton UP https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691168654/very-important-people…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Evaluative judgements: fields, value and time 1:05:40

5 years ago1:05:40

1:05:40

While ‘canons’ of culture were dismantled decades ago by postmodern, postcolonial and feminist critics, evaluative judgements about ‘the best’ and ‘best ever’ continue unabated in the cultural field and in everyday life. We find examples of these judgements in the prizes and awards bestowed by powerful institutions but also in the relentless to and fro of internet forum discussions among individuals. How might we make sense of these evaluative judgements using sociological approaches? How do judgements at an individual and collective level intersect? How do they play out over time? How do they relate to the specific logics of cultural fields? In what ways are they expressive of wider societal inequalities? How can we distinguish between various types of judgement (ethical, aesthetic, instrumental)? How can we research their cumulative logic over time? This episode is hosted by dr. Simon Stewart, Reader in Sociology and Director of the Centre for European and International Studies Research at the University of Portsmouth. Readings Stewart, S. (2018). Making evaluative judgements and sometimes making money: independent publishing in the 21stCentury. Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change, 3(2). Stewart, S. (2020). Celebrity Capital, field-specific aesthetic criteria and the status of cultural objects: the case of Masked and Anonymous. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(1), 54-70.…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Classed bodies: Weight, appearance and class distinction 1:09:40

5 years ago1:09:40

1:09:40

Classed bodies: Weight, appearance and class distinction by Culture & Inequality Podcast

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Race, ethnicity and gender in popular music 56:42

5 years ago56:42

56:42

In this episode, dr. Julian Schaap (EUR)talks with dr. Jo Haynes (University of Bristol) on the role of race, ethnicity and gender in music. Of all forms of popular culture and art, popular music remains one of the primary platforms of identity formation. While music alledgedly ‘brings people together’ across various sociatal cleavag-es, in practice we see that music genres – as with many cultural genres in general – are shaped by and reflective of social divisions in society. In the session, we will focus on the relationship be-tween social categories such as gender and race/ethnicity, and popular music, to understand how cultural production and consumption play a role in the construction, maintainance and/or deconstruction of symbolic boundaries based on gender and race/ethnicity. By zooming in on cases within (popular) music – why are there relatively few people of color in rock music? Why is hip-hop often perceived to serve minority voices? – we aim to expolate to larger questions of (popular) cul-ture, difference and inequality. Readings: Haynes, Jo (2010). In the blood: The racializing tones of music categorization. Cultural Sociology 4(1): 81-100 Hesmondhalgh, David, & Saha, A. (2013). Race, ethnicity, and cultural production. Popular Communication 11(3): 179-195. Schaap, Julian, & Berkers, Pauwke (2019). “Maybe it’s… skin colour?” How race-ethnicity and gender function in consumers’ formation of classification styles of cultural content. Consumption Markets & Culture 1-17.…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Culture and inequality in intra-European migrations 1:05:42

5 years ago1:05:42

1:05:42

In this session, we are joined by dr. Simone Varriale from the University of Lincoln, UK. He introduces students to the ways in which key concepts from cultural sociology - such as cultural capital, habitus and symbolic boundaries - have been used in the study of international migration, with a focus on cultural and economic inequalities among mobile EU citizens. We will discuss how relatively privileged white migrants mobilise unequal resources in their strategies of social mobility and social distinction, and how migration triggers processes of boundary-drawing and stigmatisation connected to class, race, age and social mobility. Oliver C. and O'Reilly, K. (2010) A Bourdieusian Analysis of Class and Migration: Habitus and the Individualizing Process. Sociology 44(1): 49-66. Erel U. 2010. Migrating cultural capital: Bourdieu in Migration studies, Sociology 44(4): 642-660. Varriale, S. 2019. Unequal youth migrations: exploring the synchrony between social ageing and social mobility among post-crisis European migrants. Sociology 53(6): 1160-1176…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Social mobilities and cultural inequalities 1:03:40

5 years ago1:03:40

1:03:40

Why do cultural producers discriminate when they think they are open to novelty? Why is it so difficult for people of colour or lower class people to enter the cultural industries? And how can we study such processes of exclusion in the cultural industry when people are not aware of them and so adamantly reject that they discriminate? Dr Dave O'Brien (University of Edinburgh) and dr. Jennifer Lena (Columbia University) discuss these and other topics related to the inequality of cultural production in this engaging session, based on the following readings: Brook, O., O’Brien, D. and Taylor, M. (2020) Culture is bad for you: Inequality in the cultural and creative industries Manchester: Manchester University Press, Chapters 2 and 8. Lena, Jennifer (2019). Entitled: Discriminating Tastes and the Expansion of the Arts Princeton: Princeton University Press. Chapters 2 and 7. Koppman, Sharon (2016). Different Like Me: Why Cultural Omnivores Get Creative Jobs. Administrative Science Quarterly, 61(2): 291–33 Childress, Clayton and Nault, Jean-Francois (2019). Encultured Biases: The Role of Products in Pathways to Inequality. American Sociological Review 84(1): 115-141. Presentation: dr. Dave O'Brien & dr. Jennifer Lena Editing: Luuc Brans & Giselinde Kuipers Intro and outro tune by professor Timothy J. Dowd.…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Cultural boundaries: Snob to omnivore to …?? New modes of cultural distinction 50:20

5 years ago50:20

50:20

On this episode Drs Laurie Hanquinet and Dave O’Brien discuss the sociology of cultural consumption. Cultural consumption matters in lots of different ways, from telling us about the value and meaning of cultural objects, through how people get access to jobs and professions, to underpinning power and inequality across entire societies! We discuss the relationship between culture and social inequalities, looking at how cultural hierarchies have changed over time, but social inequalities seem to have persisted. In particular, we think about class and race within these social and cultural hierarchies, reflecting on the new forms of distinction adopted by social elites who are superficially open and democratic in their cultural tastes. On this episode's hosts: Dr. Laurie Hanquinet is professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles. She specializes in cultural consumption, theories of cultural capital, socio-cultural inequalities, and social stratification. She published works on the visitors of modern and contemporary art museums (‘Du musée aux pratiques culturelles‘, Ed. de l’Université de Bruxelles) and on different dimensions of cultural participation and social engagement. She's the co-editor of the ‘Routledge International Handbook of the Sociology of Art and Culture’ (with Mike Savage). She also worked on themes such as ethnicity, intergroups relations and European identity. Dr. Dave O'Brien is Chancellor’s Fellow in Cultural and Creative Industries at the Edinburgh College of Art (University of Edinburgh). Cultural and Creative Industries represent an important area of social, economic, and academic concern, posing research questions and engagement opportunities that range across a number of Art, Humanities and Social Science disciplines. These questions and opportunities are reflected in Dave’s inter-, multi- and cross-disciplinary approach to studying Cultural and Creative Industries. He is the host of the new books in critical theory podcast and you can follow him on twitter: @drdaveobrien. This episode's readings: Banks, P. (2012) ‘Cultural Socialization in Black Middle-Class Families’ Cultural Sociology 6(1) 61-73 Freidman, S. and Reeves, A. (2020) ‘From Aristocratic to Ordinary: Shifting Modes of Elite Distinction’ American Sociological Review 85(2) 323-350 Hanquinet, L (2018) ‘Inequalities: when culture becomes a capital’ in Durrer, V., Miller, T. and O’Brien, D. (2018) The Routledge Handbook of Global Cultural Policy London: Routledge Hazir, I. and Warde, A. (2016) ‘The cultural omnivore thesis: Methodological aspects of the debate’ in Hanquinet and Savage (eds) Routledge International Handbook of the Sociology of Art and Culture London: Routledge Presentation: Laurie Hanquinet and Dave O'Brien Editing: Iris Verhulsdonk Intro and outro tunes: Timothy Dowd…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Growing inequalities, shifting cultural boundaries 2: cultural production 37:50

5 years ago37:50

37:50

What happens when the boundaries of what counts as art shift in American museums such as the Met? And how do elites maintain power in the process of opening up the arts? Is Rockefeller a villain or a hero in this story? And what do we gain from looking at art to study the dynamics of culture and power? In this episode, Phillipa Chong, assistant professor at McMaster University interviews Jennifer Lena, associate professor at Columbia on the shifting boundaries and shifting inequalities in the American art scene. Readings: Lena, Jennifer. C. (2019). Chapter 3: The Museum of Primitive Art. Entitled: Discriminating tastes and the expansion of the arts. Princeton University Press. Chong, Phillipa. (2018). Everyone’s A Critic? Openness as a Means to Closure in Cultural Journalism', The M in CITAMS@ 30 (Studies in Media and Communications, Volume 18). Phillipa Chong’s research is about how we define and evaluate worth, both in relation to social groups and social objects. Her empirical focus is on book reviewers as market intermediaries in the cultural market. She just released the book Inside the Critics' Circle: Book Reviewing in Uncertain Times (Princeton UP) on the politics of book reviewing. Jennifer Lena’s research focuses on processes of classification, particularly the organizational and institutional conditions for the creation, modification, or elimination of cultural categories. Before Entitled, she published a book on the communities surrounding musical genres Banding Together: How Communities Create Genre in Popular Music (Princeton UP) Presentation: dr. Phillipa Chong & dr. Jennifer Lena Introduction: Luuc Brans Audio edit: Iris Verhulsdonk Intro and outro tune: professor Timothy Dowd…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Culture, inequality, boundaries. Theoretical traditions and core texts 1:09:51

5 years ago1:09:51

1:09:51

In this first pilot episode, we discuss the core themes of the course: how do culture and inequality relate? This meeting will discuss why and how this has become such a central theme in sociology and other disciplines (notably cultural studies, anthropology), how this relation this been theorized in various theoretical traditions (notable field theory, British cultural studies, and American cultural sociology); and how has this been empirically analyzed? Moreover, we will offer a first exploration of the continued relevance of these insights on culture and inequality for contemporary societies, and for the everyday life of (young) people today. Please note that this is a pilot version of our podcast and we are aware that the audio quality is not up to par. Please bear with us, as we think the conversation is worth your attention regardless, and please provide us with feedback. Presentation: Giselinde Kuipers & Luuc Brans Audio production edit: Iris Verhulsdonk…

Culture & Inequality Podcast

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Growing inequalities, shifting cultural boundaries 1: cultural consumption 1:11:58

5 years ago1:11:58