Category: Society

Sarah Mellors Rodriguez on Reproductive Realities in Modern China

New Books in Chinese Studies | 24 May 2023 | 1h 06m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Sarah Mellors Rodriguez about her book Reproductive Realities in Modern China: Birth Control and Abortion, 1911-2021. Explores the diverse attitudes, policies, and practices of birth control and abortion in China before, during, and after the One Child Policy.

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In Oregon, an Experiment in Drug Laws

KERA’s Think | 31 August 2023 | 0h 32m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Jack Holmes about his Esquire article The Land Beyond the Drug War. It has been one year since Oregon decriminalised drug possession as part of a new approach to treat drug abuse. Discusses why heroin and fentanyl are now easily accessible street drugs, and if this radical way of confronting addiction as a behavioural health issue is doing more harm than good.

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Thomas Sowell on Social Justice Fallacies

Uncommon Knowledge | 15 September 2023 | 0h 42m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Thomas Sowell about his book Social Justice Fallacies. Discusses the consequences of our society’s quest for equality at the expense of merit. Criticizes the concept of systemic racism, arguing that even if every group in society is given an equal chance, groups will still end up with disparate income and education levels.

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How Genes Maintain Social Status | Greg Clark

Aporia Podcast | 23 September 2023 | 1h 07m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Greg Clark about his study The Inheritance of Social Status: England, 1600 to 2022. Discusses the persistence of social status across multiple generations, the challenge this poses to the belief that social interventions and social institutions can influence rates of social mobility, and the evidence for a genetic role in social status.

See other interviews with Greg Clark.

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Michael Muthukrishna: A Theory of Everyone

The Dissenter | 25 September 2023 | 1h 40m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Michael Muthukrishna about his book A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going. Discusses the premise of the book; the four laws of life: energy, innovation, cooperation, and evolution; how cooperation expands in human societies, and what distinguishes us from other animals; intelligence and IQ, and the collective brain and the idea of “genius”; the importance of institutions and cultural norms, and the role of ideas; multiculturalism, and how to solve the “paradox of diversity”; our current energy ceiling, and the problems that derive from it and how to solve them; and the challenges of studying human behavior cross-culturally.

It’s finally here! Michael Muthkrishna launched what will surely be the most important book this year in conversation with Matthew Syed at the London School of Economics. You can watch the launch on LSE’s YouTube channel (the presentation starts 7 min 15 s into the video. You should definitely subscribe to his Substack.

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When Did Marriage Become a Luxury Good?

Freakonomics Radio | 21 September 2023 | 1h 02m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Melissa Kearney about her book The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind. Describes the problem of changing marriage patterns and the benefits of growing up in a two-parent household – and argues that it’s time for liberals to face these facts.

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The Future of Talking: A Discussion with Shane O’Mara

The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones | 26 August 2023 | 0h 41m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Shane O Mara about his book Talking Heads: the New Science of How Conversation Shapes our Worlds. Discusses the purpose of conversation, both for the individual and for society; what happens in our brains as we converse, and the role of conversation in creating communities.

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The City That Sold Itself To Wall Street

Cautionary Tales | 1 September 2023 | 0h 38m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
First tells the cautionary tale, from Henry Grabar’s book, Paved Paradise, of what went wrong when the Chicago City Council leased its parking meters to Morgan Stanley. Then finishes with an interview with Grabar about the wider lessons on why parking is such an emotive issue for so many people.

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