The Social Breakdown

The hosts reconnect after a two-year break, sharing exciting personal updates and discussing Ellen's upcoming book about success in the culinary world. They dive into their gardening adventures and unique indoor plants, emphasizing self-reliance. The conversation also covers the challenges of turning academic research into engaging narratives for the culinary field. They explore book pricing, the realities of academic publishing, and the intertwining of personal stories with broader societal themes. Get ready for a fun and insightful journey!

Explore the challenges of transitioning from academia to non-academic jobs, tips on job searching using LinkedIn and Indeed, translating academic skills for job applications, leveraging sociology PhD skills in various sectors, importance of extracurricular activities on resumes, and highlighting diverse experiences on CVs for career advancement.

With all this talk about Tik Tok, we wanted to bring you an oldie-but-goodie from 2018 about Context Collapse, an interesting phenomenon that occurs often on social media when various segments of your social network (friends, family, acquaintances, employers, and complete strangers) are muddled together into one big audience. How does a social media user as yourself negotiate the multiple imagined audiences of the social network? From self-presentation tactics such as censorship and compartmentalization, we discuss the complex ways we navigate the online social life.

We're honoring the queen of sociology, Dr. Patricia Hill Collins, on this last week of Women's History Month by going deep into higher level theory via Black Feminist Thought (BFT as we like to call it). We discuss the history of the Frankfurt school of thought and the genesis of Dr. Collins' own 'critical social theory.' Her theory is steeped in American culture, history, and law, as she works to understand the experiences of Black American women. From standpoint epistemology to matrix of domination, we'll break it all down for you so you'll be ready to learn more!

We're getting theoretical this week and tackling Orientalism, a concept and book by the fantastic Dr. Edward Said. If you're taking a higher-level sociology, anthropology, history, or poli sci class, chances are you're gonna hear "orientalism" thrown around! What is heck is it? (Hint: It ain't a rug, a fast-food take out place, or the way to describe how someone looks!) What is its connection to imperialism and colonialism? And how has it influenced scholarship and research in the past and present? Tune in to learn more and be sure to give us a rating!

Is health a privilege or a right? As a society, how do we come to understand health and its social origins and outcomes? Though medicine has been understood as a social science that dates back to Hippocrates–the Hippocratic Oath–medical sociology is not even 70 years old yet! The climb to intellectual legitimacy and sound research is recent. When it comes to matters of stress, food, doctor-patient interactions, racism and sexism, medical sociologists have a lot to say and a lot to do…come join us as The Social Breakdown begins its journey in everything health!

Topics discussed in this podcast include the concept of a dyad in sociology, the relationship between love and the brain, power dynamics in relationships, attitudes towards Valentine's Day, and the pros and cons of doxing.

Triggered by "China Balloon Incident" of Feb 2023, we wanted rerelease this episode to consider the questions... with the internet, social media, and all of our new technology, do we have privacy anymore? We start the episode off talking about the classic sociological concept of Jeremy Bentham's 'Panopticon'. We also discuss the various ways (and reasons why) our government surveils us, how we tie morality in with privacy, and the consequences of doxxing and revenge porn. Tune in to hear how everyone is watching you!

If you're like us, you're probably snacking on something right now trying to get through your day. It goes without saying how important food is to our survival, but beyond the biological needs, there is a whole system surrounding food. This episode is an introduction to food studies from a sociological perspective. We look at the intermingling of culture and food, the stories and legends we pass down about food, as well as the system of food, including production, processing, and distribution. We hope you're hungry to learn!

Dr. Raul Perez, author of 'The Souls of White Jokes', discusses the definitions and interrelation of humor and comedy. They explore humor's impact on social boundaries, identities, bonding, and cohesion, as well as its historical significance in American society. The podcast also covers the debate around comedy in a politically correct climate, the emergence of democracy and pushback against racist humor, challenging power in comedy on social media, humor in cultural wars, and the impact of woke culture on free speech.