Seriously Social Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia

Are you one of the 50% of Australians who have tried an illicit drug? Or do you believe all drugs should be illegal? The field of drug policy is in a state of flux. Whilst drugs are being legalised in some parts of the world, other countries are cracking down. In this episode, Professor Alison Ritter, Director of the UNSW Drug Policy Modelling Program, explores Australia's drug policies: who makes them, who influences them, and who is being left out of the discussion?

Useful Links

Drug Policy Modelling Program, University of Sydney
Australian Institute of Criminology

Feeling burned out? It’s not surprising: experts say we all have a 30% chance of experiencing it. (Sorry to doctors, teachers and others in caring professions: your chances are way higher.) In this episode, the founder of the Black Dog Institute, Professor Gordon Parker, explains what burnout is, why it’s often misdiagnosed, and which personalities are most at risk of experiencing this syndrome which can impact our relationships, personality, and brain function.

Useful links:

Burnout: A guide to identifying burnout and pathways to recovery by Gordon Parker, Gabriela Tavella and Kerrie Eyers
The Carers Club
Lifeline: 13 11 14

Did you know there have been more dictatorships than democracies? Ever wondered if all dictators are cut from the same cloth? With the help of author Professor Graeme Gill and journalist Matt Bevan from the ABC “If you’re listening” podcasts, we explore how dictatorships work and why democracy is a more unusual system of government than most of us realise. 

Useful Links

If You're Listening Podcast with Matt Bevan
Bridling Dictators: Rules and Authoritarian Politics by Graeme Gill

What makes a speech, especially a political speech impactful, memorable and stirring? And why does it always feel so long between those times when we hear a good one? In this episode of Seriously Social, political historian Professor Sean Scalmer joins us to discuss the origins of the stump speech, and what it takes to move hearts and minds with words.

Useful Links

On the Stump: Campaign Oratory and Democracy in the United States, Britain and Australia by Sean Scalmer
Julia Gillard's Misogyny Speech in Full (2012) ABC News
Lieutenant General David Morrison AO ICMI Speakers and Entertainment
Jacqui Lambie delivers emotional speech condemning uni fee rises ABC News
Winston Churchill Speech Before Commons (June 4, 1940) Hanover Education
Australian Election Speeches: Gough Whitlam 1972 Museum of Australian Democracy
Paul Keating speech on impact of European settlement on Indigenous Australia (1992) ABC Australia
Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins address the National Press Club of Australia National Press Club of Australia

The data is in: racism in Australia is on the rise. But in recent years has racism become more covert than it once was? We unpack the spectrum of racist behaviour as we look at racism in Australia today, and consider why, even as it goes undercover, it's getting worse.

Useful links:

Racism in Australia Today (2021) by Amanuel Elias, Fethi Mansouri and Yin Paradies
Lies, Damned Lies (2021) by Claire G. Coleman
The School That Tried To End Racism (2021, ABC) hosted by Marc Fennell
The impact of racism on the health and wellbeing of young Australians (2009) Fethi Mansouri, Louise Jenkins, Les Morgan, Mona Taouk
Couldn't be fairer documentary (1984)

What helped you find hope this past year or two? Was it a person, a hobby, or something else?