The agony of love is a classic trope of romantic literature and popular journalism. The suffering caused by failures in our personal lives seems timeless. But the sociologist, Eva Illouz, argues that the nature of romantic suffering has changed radically in the modern era. Her book 'Why Love Hurts' argues that the individual misery of the 'broken hearted' should be subjected to scrutiny by social scientists. Failures in our private lives are shaped by social forces much larger than ourselves; they can't be explained by our individual psyches and histories alone. Stephen Frosh, Professor of Psychosocial studies, also joins the discussion. Laurie Taylor puts love under the sociological microscope.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
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Folge vom 16.05.2012Why Love Hurts
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Folge vom 09.05.2012Hebden Bridge; neighboursHebden Bridge was once a working class textile town shaped by a culture of chapel and self help. But a new book finds its character transformed by a wave of incomers - from hippies to home workers. The writer Paul Barker talks to Laurie Taylor about community, past and present, in Hebden Bridge. Also, the social historian, Emily Cockayne explores relations between neighbours down the ages. As long as people have lived in shelters they have had people living next door. But how has the support, as well as the noise and nuisance of neighbours changed over time?Producer: Jayne Egerton.
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Folge vom 02.05.2012Nationhood; recognising transgenderWhat drives people to make the often difficult choices to change their bodies and change their gender? How is the everyday affection for one's country changing in English life? Laurie Taylor discusses issues of transsexuals and the body modifications they choose. Also the place of ordinary English nationalism, as he meets the joint winners of The British Sociological Association's Philip Abrams first book prize. Producer: Charlie Taylor.
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Folge vom 25.04.2012Raoul Moat - the media story; Indian sex workersThe sad story of the hunt for the lone gunman Raoul Moat had many of the ingredients of classic crime fiction: a countryside location; an outsider against the law and an extraordinary set of tragic circumstances that unfolded over time. In this edition of Thinking Allowed Laurie Taylor speaks to Michael Rowe, a criminologist at the centre of the crisis. He gave countless media interviews at the time and has now conducted a study of how 24 hour news media used the rubric of crime fiction to present events in a gripping way. He argues, however, that it was a method in which truth and understanding seem to have been amongst the victims. Also on the programme Prabha Kotiswaran discusses her ethnographic study of the daily and nightly life of prostitutes in two of India's cities.Producer: Charlie Taylor.