Thinking Allowed

The Bangladesh/India border - As India sets about constructing a metal curtain along the full length of its border with Bangladesh, Cambridge anthropologist, Delwar Hussain travelled to the remote village of Boropani, which straddles the frontier, to see how the lives of ordinary people are being affected by the tussle between Dhaka and its emerging superpower neighbour. He talks to Laurie Taylor about the social and intimate lives of the people he met and a cross border coal industry that has little respect for the past, people or the environment. By focusing on the peripheries, his research exposes the promise and danger at the heart of the globalised world.'Dirty work', emotional labour and the professionalisation of nursing - a qualitative study of meal services for older people at 4 UK hospital sites. Around 60% of UK patients aged 65 or older are at risk of malnutrition while in hospital. Ben Heaven discusses timely research into 'food work' and feeding assistance on hospital wards.Producer:Jayne Egerton.

Neon - Laurie Taylor discusses a history of the flickering light which illuminated the modern world. Professor of American Studies, Christoph Ribbat, charts the rise and fall of neon. From seedy back alleys to gaudy Las Vegas, its blinking presence has electrified the contemporary city. So why did the theorist, Theodor Adorno, so despise these glowing tubes? How did neon become such a recurrent metaphor for modernity in popular culture, ranging from the writings of Vladimir Nabokov to the art of Tracy Emin? And why has the gas which once lit up our lives begun to fade into oblivion? They're joined by the cultural critic, Matthew Sweet.Also, the first dedicated UK study of black Caribbean middle-class families, and their strategies and priorities in relation to their children's education. The role of 'extra-curricular' activities in the process by which black middle-class parents seek to raise and develop their children.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

'Terrorism Studies' - how it emerged as a new academic field in the post 9/11 world. Laurie Taylor talks to Harvard social scientist, Lisa Stampinitzky, about the themes of her new book "Disciplining Terror: How Experts Invented 'Terrorism' ". She argues that terrorists are now constructed as pathological and evil personalities who are beyond our understanding, unlike the pre 70s era when the acts of political violence, that we now call terrorism, were seen as the work of rational actors with strategic goals. This transformation of political violence into terrorism is held to have led to the current 'war on terror'. Drawing on archival research as well as interviews with terrorism experts, she traces the struggles through which experts made terrorism, and terrorism made experts. John Bew, a British expert on terrorism, considers and contests the arguments.Also, Christine Fair discusses a groundbreaking study which finds that support for political violence in Pakistan is lower amongst the poor than the middle classes.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The Global Pigeon - our complex and contradictory relationship with the quintessential city bird. Laurie Taylor talks to Colin Jerolmack, an American sociologist, who spent over 3 years studying pigeon/human interaction across 3 continents. Pigeons were domesticated thousands of years ago as messengers, as well as a source of food. These days they're either treated as a nuisance or scarcely noticed on our city streets and roofs. This new study uncovers the many and versatile lives of these anonymous looking birds; the ways in which people have kept them for sport, for pleasure and profit: From the 'pigeon wars' waged by breeding enthusiasts in the skies over Brooklyn to the Million Dollar Pigeon Race held every year in South Africa. The author argues that our interactions with pigeons offer surprising insights into city life, community, culture, and politics.Also, sectarianism and civility in Northern Ireland - Dr Lisa Smyth explores how mothers from different religious communities 'get along' in the shared spaces of inner city Belfast.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Crime in the Armed Forces - Laurie Taylor talks to Emeritus Professor of History, Clive Emsley, about his pioneering, historical study into criminal offending by members of British armed forces both during and immediately after the two world wars of the 20th century, and concluding in the present day.For a quarter of the 20th century, the UK had large conscripted armed forces and it is these services, and in particular the Army, that are the principal focus of this study. Emsley argues that the forces "reflect the society from which they come, both the good and the bad", pointing out that it's predominantly made up of younger men, the social group that commits the most crime. He also examines two popular assumptions about crime and war; namely, that crime decreases when wars begin as young men - those likeliest to commit crimes - are swept up into the forces; and that crime goes up at the end of war as men brutalised by combat returned to the civilian world but, unable to cope with 'peacetime', engage in crime and violence. Dr Deirdre MacManus, from King's College, joins the discussion, having recently completed a study into the relationship between combat experience and violent crime amongst British soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.Also, Ruth Patrick's research into the lived experiences of welfare reform. She's interviewed a range of out of work benefits claimants between 2011 and 2013. Talking to single parents being moved from Income Support onto Jobseeker's Allowance, disabled people waiting to be migrated off Incapacity Benefit and onto Employment and Support Allowance, and young jobseekers experiencing the new Jobcentre/Work Programme and sanctions regime, her study gives a unique insight into the impact of a revolution in 'welfare' provision on 'real' people.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Remembering Diana - did Princess Diana's death lead to a major shift in British culture? Professor of Sociology, Vic Seidler, talks to Laurie Taylor about his new book which analyses the repercussions of Diana, Princess of Wales', death in 1997. He argues that the public outpourings of grief and displays of emotion prompted new kinds of identification and belonging in which communities came together regardless of race, class, gender and sexuality and helped to make visible changes in what might be called 'New' or 'post-traditional' Britain. Did her unexpected death see a challenge to 'stiff upper lip' reserve and to the typical split made in modernity between reason and emotion? The writer, Bea Campbell, who has also written about the Diana 'phenomenon', joins the discussion. Also, the anthropologist, Henrietta Moore discusses the history and significance of Ethnographic research.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Does Austerity Kill? Laurie Taylor talks to political economist, David Stuckler, about the human costs of the financial crisis as documented in his book 'The Body Economic' (co-authored with Sanju Basu) -the culmination of ten years research. They're joined by David Smith, Economics Editor of the Sunday Times.We're well aware of the extreme costs of banking crisis in terms of the wealth of nations, but much less idea of how they affect one of the most central issues of all: our physical and mental health. Why has health in Iceland actually got better whilst it's deteriorated in Greece? From the Great Depression of the 1930s to post communist Russia and the US foreclosure scandal; Dr Stuckler study examines the surprising, seemingly contradictory nature of economic disasters' role in public health. They are joined by David Smith Economic Editor of the Sunday Times.Also, Nasar Meer discusses his study into ethnic minority Scots' relationship to Scottish Nationalism and identityProducer: Jayne Egerton.

Empty labour - international statistics suggest that the average time an employee spends engaged in private activities is 1 and a half to 2 hours a day. Laurie Taylor talks to Roland Paulsen, a Swedish sociologist, who interviewed 43 workers who spent around half their working hours on 'empty labour'. Are such employees merely 'slacking' or are such little' subversions' acts of resistance to the way work appropriates so much of our time? They're joined by the writer, Michael Bywater. By contrast, Jane Sturges, discusses her research into professionals caught up, both reluctantly as well as willingly, in a 'long hours' work culture.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The multicultural prison - a unique analysis of the daily lives and interactions of both white and ethnic minority inmates in the closed world of the modern, male prison. Diverse British nationals, foreign. and migrant populations, have been brought into close proximity within prison walls. How do they negotiate their tensions and differences? The criminologist, Coretta Phillips, talks to Laurie Taylor about her empirical research in Rochester Young Offenders' Institution and Maidstone Prison.Also, reactions to jellied eels. Drawing on a series of ethnographic encounters collected while hanging around at a seafood stand in east London, Alex Rhys Taylor explores the relationship between individual expressions of distaste and the production of class, ethnic and generational forms of distinction.Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Live music - from Dance Hall to the 100 Club.The social history of music in Britain since 1950 has long been the subject of nostalgic articles and programmes, but to date there has been no proper scholarly study. The writer and Professor of Music, Simon Frith, is one of the co-authors of the first in a three volume series which addresses this gap. He talks to Laurie Taylor about how the organisation and enjoyment of live music changed between 1950 and 1967 offering new insights into the evolving nature of musical fashions; the impact of developing technologies and the balance of power between live and recorded music businesses. The first volume draws on archival research, a wide range of academic and non-academic sources, participant observation and industry interviews. Dr Catherine Tackley, musician and lecturer, and Caspar Melville, lecturer in Global Cultural Industries, join the debate.Producer: Jayne Egerton.