Thinking Allowed

Chinese women & the resurgence of gender inequality. Laurie Taylor talks to Leta Hong Fincher, about 'Leftover Women', her study of the pressures facing Modern Chinese women who are often locked out of social equality, property rights, and legal protection from domestic abuse.Also, 'smokestack nostalgia' - the meaning of post-industrial imagery. Tim Stangleman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, questions the continuing desire to reflect back and find value in our industrial past.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism - similarities and differences. Comparisons of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim sentiment are strikingly absent in British accounts of race and racism. Laurie Taylor talks to Nasar Meer, Reader in Comparative Social Policy at Strathclyde University, about a new study which attempts to remedy this omission. They're joined by Rumy Hasan, Senior Lecturer at the Sussex Centre for Migration Research at the University of Sussex. Also, the sociology of 'sleep'. How does sleep fit into our wired awake world? Catherine Coveney, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, explores the sleeping experiences & strategies of shift workers and students.Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

'Illicit' dance in India. Laurie Taylor talks to Anna Morcom, Senior Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, about her extensive research into marginalised dancers in contemporary South Asia. From bar dancers to transgender erotic performers, she has chronicled their relationship with 'legitimate' performing arts; their struggles against stigma and the ways in which post colonial nation building has excluded these 'non elite' carriers of culture. Also, can war ever be a force for good? The historian, Ian Morris, argues that war, as well as provoking countless deaths & horrors, has also, in the very long term, allowed us to create peaceful societies.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The rise & fall of the working class: Laurie Taylor talks to Selina Todd, social historian at St Hilda's College, Oxford, about her sweeping study of ordinary British people between 1910-2010. Rooting her analysis in first person accounts from factory workers, servants and housewives, she reveals a hidden history full of the unexpected: How many of us know that cinema audiences once shook their fists at Winston Churchill? Also, US sociologist, Yasemin Besen-Cassino, discusses her research on 'baristas', the preparers of coffee across the urban world. She finds a group of affluent young people who'll work for poor wages if they're associated with a 'cool' brand.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The winner of Thinking Allowed's first Ethnography award, in association with the British Sociological Association.Laurie Taylor and a team of esteemed academics - Professor Beverley Skeggs, Professor Dick Hobbs, Professor Henrietta Moore and Dr Louise Westmarland - set themselves the task of finding the study that has made the most significant contribution to ethnography over the past year. In the past, ethnographic studies have cast light on hidden or misunderstood worlds, from the urban poor in 1930s Chicago to the mods and rockers in British seaside towns in the 1950s. This year they considered submissions of startling range, colour and diversity, in the process learning much about the struggles of the war wounded 'amputees' of Sierra Leone; the ties between mothers and daughters on a working class housing estate in South Wales; the hedonistic excess of young holidaymakers in Ibiza; and the dreams and desires of young women in hostess bars in Cambodia. After much passionate debate, finally the winner can be revealed.Laurie Taylor presents a programme about the winning entry which, in the judges' view, has made the most significant contribution to ethnography, the in-depth analysis of the everyday life of a culture or sub culture.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The Ethnography award 'short list': Thinking Allowed, in association with the British Sociological Association, presents a special programme devoted to the academic research which has been short listed for our new annual award for a study that has made a significant contribution to ethnography, the in-depth analysis of the everyday life of a culture or sub culture. Laurie Taylor is joined by three of the judges: Professor Beverley Skeggs, Professor Dick Hobbs and Dr Louise Westmarland.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Gardens of the British Working Class - the historian, Margaret Willes, considers the remarkable feats of cultivation by the working class in Britain, even if the land they planted and loved was not their own: From lush gardens nurtured outside crumbling workers' cottages to 'green' miracles achieved in blackened yards. In doing so, she reveals the ingenious ways in which determined workers transformed drab surroundings. She's joined by Lisa Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Leeds Metropolitan University, who has explored the ways in which struggles over classed and gendered tastes are played out in our gardens.Also, 'Why England Fails At Football' - a sociological account of our international 'shame' from Anthony King, Professor of Sociology at the University of ExeterProducer: Torquil Macleod.

Capitalism - renewal or decline? Laurie Taylor explores the future of our market driven economy. He's joined by David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Colin Crouch, Professor Emeritus in Sociology at the University of Warwick. Professor Harvey examines the contradictions at the heart of capitalism arguing that it's far from being the permanent or only way of organising human life. Professor Crouch, conversely, suggests that only Capitalism can provide us with an efficient and innovative economy but it should be re-shaped to better fit a social democratic society.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Kissing - a cultural history. How do we make sense of the kiss and why did it become a vital sign of romance and courtship? Laurie Taylor talks to Marcel Danesi, Professor of Linguistic Anthropology about his new book 'The History of the Kiss' which argues that kissing was the first act of "free romance" liberated from the yoke of arranged unions. When the kiss first appeared in poetry and songs of the medieval period, it was as a desirable but forbidden act. Since then it has evolved into the quintessential symbol of love-making in the popular imagination. From early poems and paintings to current films, its romantic incarnation coincides with the birth of popular culture itself. They're joined by Karen Harvey, Reader in Cultural History at the University of Sheffield, who has studied the meaning of the kiss across different cultures and periods.Also, hitmen for hire: David Wilson, Professor of Criminology, examined 27 cases of contract killing committed by 36 men (including accomplices) and one woman. Far from involving shadowy, organised criminals, the reality of killing for cash turned out to be surprisingly mundane.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Poverty and 'Shame' - shame was once described as the 'irreducible core' of poverty by Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen. Laurie Taylor looks at new cross cultural research which examines the psycho-social consequences of being poor in countries as diverse as Britain, Pakistan and South Korea. Elaine Chase, Research Officer at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford, considers the way that shame and stigma have been experienced by British people receiving welfare aid throughout history. She found that feelings of unworthiness, guilt and shame were common. In the current day, her study found that poor people accepted that 'other peoples' poverty was the result of personal failures rather than structural factors. The only alibi for their present circumstances was to deflect blame on to the 'undeserving' poor. She's joined by Sohail Choudhry, Research Assistant, also at the University of Oxford, whose Pakistan based interviews offered a contrasting perspective. Pakistanis on the 'breadline' also felt shame, but were also more inclined to blame the government and the 'big guns' for their reduced state.Also, Professor of History, David Arnold, describes the impact of small scale technology on modern India. How the sewing machine, bicycle and typewriter reinvented every day life and work leading to new ways of thinking about the politics of colonial rule and Indian nationhood. Producer: Torquil Macleod.