Uncommon Sense

Too often, talk about security seems to belong to politicians and psychologists; to discussions about terrorism and defence, individual anxiety and insecurity. But how do sociologists think about it? And why care?Daria Krivonos – who works on migration, race and class in Central and Eastern Europe – tells Alexis and Rosie why security matters. What’s the impact of calling migration a “security threat”? How does the security of the privileged rely on the insecurity of the precarious? And, as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, what would it mean to truly #StandwithUkraine – from ensuring better job security for its workers abroad, to cancelling its debt?Plus: pop culture pointers; from Kae Tempest’s “People’s Faces” to the movie “The Mauritanian” – and Alexis’ teenage passion for Rage Against the Machine.Guest: Daria KrivonosHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.Episode ResourcesDaria, Rosie and Alexis recommendedKae Tempest’s song “People’s Faces”Rage Against the Machine’s song “Without a Face”Kevin Macdonald’s movie “The Mauritanian”From The Sociological Review“Brexit On ‘Plague Island’: Fortifying The UK’s Borders In Times Of Crisis” – Michaela Benson and Nando Sigona“Organised State Abandonment: The meaning of Grenfell” – Brenna Bhandar“Food Insecurity: Upsetting ‘Apple Carts’ in Abstract and Tangible Markets” – Susan Marie MartinBy Daria Krivonos“The making of gendered ‘migrant workers’ in youth activation: The case of young Russian-speakers in Finland”“Ukrainian farm workers and Finland’s regular army of labour”“Who stands with Ukraine in the long term?”“Racial capitalism and the production of difference in Helsinki and Warsaw” (forthcoming)Further readings“The Death of Asylum” – Alison Mountz“What was the so-called ‘European Refugee Crisis’?” – Danish Refugee CouncilWorld Food Programme Yemen and Ethiopia statistics“In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All” – UN Secretary-General“Ukrainian Workers Flee ‘Modern Slavery’ Conditions on UK Farms” – Diane Taylor“Bordering” – Nira Yuval-Davis, Georgie Wemyss and Kathryn CassidyAnthony Giddens’ sociological work; including “Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age”Support our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

Think of intimacy and, pretty soon, you’ll probably think about sex. But, as sociologist Katherine Twamley explains, intimacy means much more than that: it’s woven through so many of our relationships – including with people whose names we might not even know. She tells Rosie and Alexis how an accidental trip to India got her thinking about the varied meanings of “love” across cultures and contexts, and reflects on whether, to quote the famous song, love and marriage really do “go together like a horse and carriage”.Plus: what could it mean to decolonise love? Why should we be wary of acts performed in the name of love? Will we ever live in a truly “contactless” world, and who wants that? And we get intimate with the artist Sophie Calle.Guest: Katherine TwamleyHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.Episode ResourcesKatherine, Rosie, Alexis and our producer Alice recommendedIan McEwan’s novel “Machines Like Me”Haruhiko Kawaguchi’s photographySophie Calle’s conceptual artAlex Thompson’s film “Saint Frances”From The Sociological Review“The Sociology of Love” – Julia CarterOn asexual people and intimacy – Matt Dawson, Liz McDonnell and Susie Scott On the phenomenon of self-marriage – Kinneret Lahad and Michal Karvel-ToviFurther readings“Love, Marriage and Intimacy Among Gujarati Indians” – Katherine Twamley“Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship” – Kath Weston“Intimate Labors: Cultures, Technologies, and the Politics of Care” – Eileen Boris and Rhacel Salazar Parreñas (editors)On Emotional Labour – Arlie Hochschild“Decolonising Families and Relationships” – British Sociological Association webinars“Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds” – Zygmunt Bauman“Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences” – Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim and Ulrich BeckNandita Dutta’s research on South Asian beauty salons in London as diasporic sites of intimacyNick Crossley’s sociological workJessica Ringrose’s sociological workGreta Thunberg’s Twitter page (mentioned by Katherine as an intimacy example)James Baldwin’s novel “Giovanni’s Room”Sally Rooney’s novel “Normal People”Support our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

School should be about play, fulfilment and learning. But it is also a place of surveillance, discipline and discrimination. Activist scholar Remi Joseph-Salisbury has researched policing, racism and education in the UK. He tells Rosie and Alexis what happens when policing enters the classroom, its impact on students and teachers of colour, and the need for wholesale reform – including a truly anti-racist curriculum.Plus: how can we break the “school-to-prison” pipeline? What is Critical Race Theory and why has it prompted a backlash? What does it mean to really receive “an education”? And what’s the harm in the trope of the “inspirational super teacher”, as found in films from Sister Act to Dead Poets Society?This episode was recorded prior to news being made public of the experience of the pupil known as “Child Q”, reported in mid-March 2022. Remi has since written about this.Guest: Remi Joseph-SalisburyHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerFind more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.Episode ResourcesRemi, Rosie and Alexis recommendedJohn Agard's poem  “Checking Out Me History”Steve McQueen's TV drama “Small Axe: Education”Laurie Nunn's TV series “Sex Education”Jesse Thistle's memoir “From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way”From The Sociological ReviewOn “Prevent”, a counter-extremism policy at UK universities Niyousha Bastani “Social Mixing in Urban Schools” Sumi Hollingworth“School-to-Prison Pipeline” Karen GrahamBy Remi Joseph-Salisbury“Race and Racism in English Secondary Schools”“Afro Hair: How Pupils Are Tackling Discriminatory Uniform Policies”On the demonisation of Critical Race TheoryFurther reading“Racism and Education: Coincidence or Conspiracy?” David Gillborn “Race, Gender and Educational Desire: Why Black Women Succeed and Fail” Heidi Mirza“Lammy Review” MP David Lammy“How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Sub-normal in the British School System” Bernard CoardThe Halo Collective for a future without hair discriminationNo More Exclusions for racial justice in educationSupport our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

Home means something to everyone. More than just bricks and mortar, it’s about security and belonging, citizenship and exclusion. Michaela Benson has researched it all: from the UK’s self-build communities, to people seeking a new lifestyle abroad. She tells Alexis and Rosie about this and her own experience of home, including her mother’s relationship to her place of birth: Hong Kong.Plus, Kwame Lowe and Alice Grahame introduce us to the Rural Urban Synthesis Society in London. What does it take to build your own “Grand Design” and why would anyone want to do that? What happens when areas become known as “problem places” and what’s gentrification got to do with it? And who is to blame for the housing crisis?Guests: Michaela Benson, Kwame Lowe, Alice GrahameHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerSpecial thanks to: Kirsteen Paton, Lisa Dikomitis, RUSSEpisode ResourcesMichaela, Rosie and Alexis recommend:“Fragile Monsters” (2021) by Catherine Menon“Unsheltered” (2018) by Barbara Kingsolver“Foundation” (1942) by Isaac AsimovFrom The Sociological Review:“Unhomely Homes: A visual study of Airbnb” (2020) by Kenneth Kajoranta and Anna PechurinaOn older New Zealanders and the role of home for feeling secure in an uncertain world (1998) by Ann Dupuis and David ThornsA critical review of the existing literature on “home” (2004) by Shelley MallettFurther readings:On being middle-class in contemporary London (2017) by Michaela Benson and Emma JacksonOn Brexit’s hidden costs for Britons living in the EU (2021) by Michaela BensonThe Rural Urban Synthesis Society (RUSS) Lewisham, London“Gentrification: A Working-Class Perspective” (2014) by Kirsteen Paton“Your Life Chances Affect Where You Live: A Critique of the ‘Cottage Industry’ of Neighbourhood Effects Research” (2013) by Tom Slater“Cyprus and Its Places of Desire: Cultures of Displacement Among Greek and Turkish Cypriot Refugees” (2012) edited by Lisa Dikomitis“Walters Way and Segal Close: The Architect Walter Segal and London's Self-Build Community” (2017) by Alice GrahameThe film “Minari” (2020) directed by Lee Isaac ChungChris Leslie’s work on demolition and regeneration in GlasgowRead our acknowledgement of the indigenous lands that both Rosie and Alexis work upon.Find more at The Sociological Review.Support our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

What does care really mean? For feminist sociologist Bev Skeggs, it should be at the heart of how we organise our society – from tax to health, to climate action. She talks to Alexis and Rosie about the costs of complacency, her own shocking experience of care (or lack of it) as her own parents faced the end of life, and why we have every right to expect the state to look after us. Care, she shows, is political: there’s no care without society; no society without care.Plus, Bev casts a sideways glance at “self-care” and explains why browsing a sociology textbook might just be better for you than a trip to a pricey spa. The team also discusses their recommendations for pop culture lessons in care – from Adrienne Rich to Robin Williams.Guest: Bev SkeggsHosts: Rosie Hancock, Alexis Hieu TruongExecutive Producer: Alice BlochSound Engineer: David CracklesMusic: Joe GardnerArtwork: Erin AnikerSpecial thanks to: Kirsteen PatonEpisode ResourcesBev, Rosie and Alexis recommend:TV adaptations (various; 1993-2001; 2019) of Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” novels (1974-2014)“Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution” (1976) by Adrienne RichThe movie “What Dreams May Come” (1998), dir. Vincent Ward, starring Robin WilliamsFrom The Sociological Review:“A Crisis in Humanity: What Everyone With Parents Is Likely to Face in the Future” (2017) by Bev SkeggsOn radical care (2020) by Dan Silver and Sarah Marie HallOn caring for plants during Covid-19 (2020) by Gavin MacleanOn care, activism and environmental justice in Chile (2017) by Manuel Tironi and Israel Rodríguez-GiraltOn love labour as a particular kind of care (2007) by Kathleen LynchFurther readings:“Formations of Class and Gender” (1997) by Bev Skeggs“Learning to Labour” (1977) by Paul Willis“The Care Manifesto” (2020) by The Care CollectiveThe Women’s Budget GroupSolidarity and Care During the Covid-19 Pandemic (2020), a public platform by The Sociological Review“Saving the Modern Soul: Therapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help” (2008) by Eva Illouz“Who Will Care for the Caretaker’s Daughter? Towards a Sociology of Happiness in the Era of Reflexive Modernity” (1997) by Eva Illouz“Growing Up Girl: Psychosocial Explorations of Gender and Class” (2001) by Valerie Walkerdine, Helen Lucey and June Melody“A Burst of Light” (1988) by Audre Lorde“Self-Help, Media Cultures and the Production of Female Psychopathology” (2004) by Lisa Blackman“It's Different for Girls: Gendering the Audience for Popular Music” (2000) by Diane RailtonFind more at The Sociological Review.Support our work. Make a one-off or regular donation to help fund future episodes of Uncommon Sense: donorbox.org/uncommon-sense

Dive into a fresh sociological perspective on society's pressing issues. The hosts unveil the importance of understanding care, both socially and environmentally. They encourage listeners to question societal norms while envisioning a collaborative and sustainable future. Featuring insightful discussions and expert guests, this podcast champions the idea that sociology is accessible to everyone and essential for tackling shared challenges.