On the Transforming Society podcast this year we’ve spoken to authors and editors about how their work can help us understand and react to the key social challenges of the moment.
Here are our most listened to episodes from 2022:
Chasing the mafia
Anna Sergi, author of Chasing the Mafia: ‘Ndrangheta, Memories and Journeys, speaks about the book, her background and proximity to the subject. They discuss her childhood growing up on the Aspromonte mountain, the long reach of the ‘Ndrangheta and the delicate balance of emotional distance when it comes to analysing such an emotive topic.
What is policing for?
Lambros Fatsis and Melayna Lamb talk about their new book Policing the Pandemic: How Public Health Becomes Public Order. They discuss how the pandemic has revealed the damaging relationship between public health and public order and explain why we need to explore our assumptions about policing and what it’s for.
The death of the Left
Simon Winlow and Steve Hall, co-authors of The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin from the Beginning Again, talk about whether there is any hope for the political Left. They discuss the Left’s current focus on culture instead of economics, the surface level nature of diversity policies in organisations, and what the Left needs to do in order to thrive again.
Radical social work then and now
Marking ten years of the Critical and Radical Social Work journal, Michael Lavalette, editor since its inception, tells the story of the emergence of the radical social work movement and the Social Work Action Network, and the role the journal has played in this. He talks about how the journal creates a space for debate and discussion, combining academic research with voices from the frontline and the achievements of radical pioneers, with much of the content available for free.
How linking poverty and wealth will break the inequality cycle
Stewart Lansley, author of The Richer, The Poorer, discusses why we need to talk about the links between poverty and wealth, the challenges of measuring poverty and the impact of living in an unequal society.
How business can engage with the global goals and start saving the planet
Ian Thomson and Dom Bates, authors of Urgent Business: Five Myths Business Needs to Overcome to Save Itself and the Planet, discuss the current way businesses engage with the global goals, the myths that hold businesses back from change, and what individuals within businesses can do to push for progress.
Developing AI for an anti-fascist future
Dan McQuillan, author of Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence, talks about how artificial intelligence damages society in ways that are not easily fixed and why it needs to be restructured from the ground up, as well as how these fundamental changes to AI can help create a better society for everyone.
Protecting young people outside the home
Carlene Firmin, co-author of Safeguarding Young People Beyond the Family Home, talks about extra-familial risks and harms and how our social work system was only ever designed to protect children within their homes. She suggests practical steps to allow us to offer safeguarding and wider social work responses to risks beyond families.
Radical solutions for a broken system
Stephen McBride talks about his book Escaping Dystopia: Rebuilding a Public Domain looking at radical solutions to global issues such as economic catastrophes, inequality, climate change and political failure. Are there means of escape from the near dystopia we find ourselves in?
Viral masculinity and the populist pandemic
Karen Lee Ashcraft, scholar, former right-wing populist and author of Wronged and Dangerous, speaks about the rise of populism and the true cost of a world run by manly grievance. She discusses the evolution of toxic masculinity to viral masculinity, women’s involvement in populist and right-wing extremist movements, and what we should do now to mitigate the impact of this phenomenon.
Browse all episodes of the Transforming Society podcast here.
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