Thinking Allowed Folgen

Meritocracy, then and now. Laurie Taylor talks to Peter Hennessy, Attlee professor of contemporary British history at Queen Mary, University of London. How did meritocracy arise as a concept and has it ever been realised in practice given the persistence of notions of a British Establishment with control over access to the centres of power? They are joined by Danny Dorling, professor of Geography at the University of Oxford. Also, doctors' choice of desert island discs - what do they tell us about the possession of cultural capital? Ruth McDonald, professor of health science research at Manchester University, discusses the meaning of elite musical tastes.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Fugitives from the law: Laurie Taylor talks to Alice Goffman, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, about 'On the Run' her study of the lives of African American men caught up in webs of criminality in Philadelphia. She spent six years living in a neighbourhood marked by pervasive policing, violence and poverty. She argues that high tech surveillance and arrest quotas have done little to reduce crime or support young lives in the most disadvantaged parts of the US. They're joined by Professor Dick Hobbs, Criminologist at the University of Essex. Also, Alison Phipps, Director of the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of Sussex, explores the rise of 'lad culture' in Higher Education and its relationship to the 'marketisation' of learning. Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Post dictatorship art in Argentina and beyond. Laurie Taylor talks to Vikki Bell, Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths College, about the role of the arts in a society's journey to democracy. Whilst scholars of transitional justice tend to focus on the courts and the streets; this study asks how culture enables a country marked by state oppression to both mark, as well as transcend, its past. They're joined by Professor Sanja Bahun from the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex. Also, Charles Umney, Senior Lecturer in Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour at the University Of Greenwich, talks about the 'creative labour' of jazz musicians in London. Producer: Jayne Egerton.