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Brought to you by Bristol University Press and Policy Press, the Transforming Society podcast brings you conversations with our authors around social justice and global social challenges.

We get to grips with the story their research tells, with a focus on the specific ways in which it could transform society for the better.

Mix of black and white swirling together.
by Ivan Kalmar  |  24th May 2022

In this episode, Ivan Kalmar, author of 'White But Not Quite', explains illiberal democracy in Central Europe, the role ‘whiteness’ plays in illiberalism, and the dynamics of racism by and towards Central Europeans.…Read more

Graffiti of two arrows on a wall
by Michael Lavalette  |  21st April 2022

Marking ten years of the Critical and Radical Social Work journal, Michael Lavalette 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.…Read more

Woman with eyes crossed out
by Caroline Gorden and Christopher Birkbeck  |  8th April 2022

In this episode, authors Caroline Gorden and Christopher Birkbeck speak with Jess Miles about the social construction of guilt and innocence, people's morbid fascination with violent crime and why a single explanation of a trial verdict is always likely to be insufficient.…Read more

Woman holding a protest sign of a raised fist
by Nasar Meer  |  28th March 2022

In this episode, Nasar Meer talks about his new book 'The Cruel Optimism of Racial Justice', looking at why we continue to see systemic injustice and how equal treatment isn't the same as treatment as an equal.…Read more

Rubiks cube displaying the UN SDGs

In this episode Ian Thomson and Dom Bates 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.…Read more

Homeless person being given money in a big city
by Stewart Lansley  |  11th February 2022

In this episode, 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.…Read more

A group of police wearing riot gear
by Lambros Fatsis and Melayna Lamb  |  20th January 2022

In this podcast episode, Lambros Fatsis and Melayna Lamb talk about 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…Read more

Neon sign 'You are what you listen to'
by Bristol University Press and Policy Press  |  29th December 2021

Listen to authors and editors talking about the key social challenges of the moment in the top ten Transforming Society podcast episodes from 2021.…Read more

Road winding through some trees

In this episode, Alison Shaw, Chief Executive of Bristol University Press, talks about 25 years of publishing with a purpose to mark the end of the Press' anniversary celebration year.…Read more

Street art of Darth Vader with a halo
by Carl Rhodes  |  23rd November 2021

In this episode, we speak with Carl Rhodes, author of 'Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy', about the dangerous consequences of businesses being ‘woke’.…Read more