Thinking Allowed Folgen

Modern Slavery: Laurie Taylor explores the tensions and dilemmas at the heart of contemporary struggles against enslavement; from forced labour to sex trafficking. He's joined by Julia O'Connell Davidson, the author of a new study which argues that the 'new abolitionist movement' fails to address the fundamental realities of injustice and exploitation in a globalised world. The writer and journalist, Rahila Gupta, offers another perspective.Also, school lunchboxes: Vicki Harman, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London, considers the way in which middle class mothers view their children's packed lunches as a reflection of their parenting skills - sometimes struggling to satisfy their children's tastes and keeping on the right side of the school's strict guidelines. Is a home-made cupcake a transgression of rules or a worthy display of good mothering and home baking?Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Identity and work: Laurie Taylor explores selfhood in an era in which our working lives are becoming increasingly uncertain. He talks to Jesse Potter, lecturer in Sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University and author of a new study which interviewed people who'd undergone profound work-life changes. How do individuals achieve meaning and fulfilment when their productive lives fail to satisfy? Also, Paula Jarzabkowski, Professor of Strategic Management at City University London considers how employees use humour to cope with paradox and change.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Fashion:pleasure and danger. Laurie Taylor considers the costs of 'keeping up appearances', then and now. From the flaming tutus of ballerinas to the deaths of garment workers: what perils have accompanied changes in dress, for the producers of clothing, as well as the wearers. How have our ideas of style and good looks shifted according to changing notions of masculinity & femininity? What relationship do beards and facial hair have to our understanding of what it means to be a man? And have the vagaries and demands of fashion invariably hurt women more than men, the poor more than the wealthy?Laurie is joined by Christopher Oldstone-Moore, Senior Lecturer in History at Wright State University, Alison Matthews David, Associate Professor in the School of Fashion at Ryerson University and Joanne Entwistle, Senior Lecturer in Culture and Creative Industries at King's College London.Producer: Jayne Egerton.