The Sociology Show Matthew Wilkin

In this episode, Matthew talks to Professor Lee Elliot Major OBE, Lee is the country’s first Professor of Social Mobility. Appointed by the University of Exeter to be a global leader in the field, his work is dedicated to improving the prospects of disadvantaged young people.

Lee discusses his book Equity in education: Levelling the playing field of learning as well as outlining other famous sociological studies and how they relate to his findings.

You can view Lee's TED talk here - • How can we level the playing field of...

Contact details - https://education.exeter.ac.uk/staff/...

In this episode, Matthew talks to Professor Les Back and Dr Isaac Hoff about the rise of hooliganism and anti social behaviour at football grounds post covid. Ideas around drug use, masculinity, cultural resistance, subcultures and moral panics are all discussed. Is the problem really as bad as the media make out it is?

In this episode, three students takeover the pod to discuss the issue of sexism and misogyny in the gaming world. Harper Winslet, Jessica Thornton and Leila Miller-Jones from BHASVIC college in Brighton and Hove were inspired by the research of Anita Sarkeesian and wanted to see if their own primary research gained similar results. The research considers early games when objectification was first noticable up to more comptemporary issues such as whether the rise of Andrew Tate has had a signigicant impact on the gaming world.

In this episode, Matthew talks to Professor Tom Shakespeare. Tom is is an English sociologist and bioethicist, he has achondroplasia and uses a wheelchair, his work focuses on all aspects of diability. In discussion, Tom defines what a disability is, how it impacts identity and changing attitudes. Tom also discusses media representation of disabilities and whether they have improved over the last twenty or so years.

You can follow Tom on Twitter @TommyShakes


and check out his website - https://farmerofthoughts.co.uk/

In this episode, Matthew talks to Circe Newbold about Paper 3 for the AQA A-level Sociology exam. Circe Newbold is a lead examiner for Paper 3, here she explains some top tips in terms of what the examiners are looking for and how to structure questions. Circe also explains how to work towards the A* grade.

In this episode, Matthew talks to Professor Frank Furedi. Frank is a Hungarian-Canadian academic and professor of sociology at the University of Kent and here he talks about his ideas on parents, childhood and fear. Frank discusses ideas from his book 'Paranoid parenting' about how childhood have become over protected from the late 70s onwards. The discussion also considers how children are being impacted by over catiousness and how parenting has continued to be impacted by fear. Frank also explain his ideas on the adultification of children and the infantilisation of adults.

You can find out more about Frank on his webiste - https://www.frankfuredi.com/ and follow him on twitter @Furedibyte