The Social Breakdown

It's almost the most romantic day of the year - good ol' V-Day. While the gang has looked at family and romantic relationships from a sociological perspective, we're taking an inner deep dive into ourselves this week with a PhD's Guide to Relationships! Graduate school is a weirdly autonomous yet lonely time, so this week we discuss our experiences with managing romantic and platonic relationships while balancing a full course load, TA/GAships, and of course, writing a dissertation. Tune in to see how we do it and remember, you're not alone!

Ever heard of a theory that wasn't a theory? This week the gang tackles a difficult qualitative methodological approach called Grounded Theory, put forth by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. By doing a deep dive into textual and descriptive data, the goal of this approach is to analyze data without letting previous knowledge, biases, or assumptions cloud the analysis. If you ever wondered what it was like to do hands on sociological research, then this episode is for you!

We've got a special guest episode featuring Dr. Matthew Smith-Lahrman for you this week! Matt is a rock 'n roll guru and professor at Dixie State University, and he joins us to talk about the sociology of rock music. Tune in to learn about how rock music has evolved, its role in the social construction of reality, and his favorite band, The Meat Puppets. Also, don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating if you haven't already. Mahalo!

Andddd we're back with part two of our series on stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination! In this episode we take a close look at institutional discrimination. First, we explore the sociological concept of the 'institution'. Next, we dig into how discrimination can plague an institution, and why it is that sometimes we don't even know that we're participants in this type of biased behavior. We end the episode with some ways that we faulty human beings can reduce and prevent discrimination. Tune in here to learn more, and don't forget to subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts!

Stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination-- all words we use interchangeably, and consequently, words we sometimes use incorrectly! This week's show is the first episode of a two-part series where we untangle these three concepts from each other, and get a better sense of when prejudice turns into discrimination. Tune in to learn more, and don't forget to give us a rating when you've got a little time on your hands. Mahalo!

If you hang around grad students, you'll discover one of our favorite topics to discuss is money. We're usually grumbling about funding, side gigs, constantly filling out applications for scholarships that we don't get, and how we wiiiiiiish we had enough money to not have to live with roommates anymore. So in this PhD's Guide, we're gonna explore this topic by looking at the typical jobs available in grad school (including average stipend pay), what you should expect funding-wise from your department, and some academic job opportunities you can find to supplement your TA stipend. Tune in here to learn more about the precariousness of being a grad student!

Join the SB team as we talk about the "myth of mental illness," a phrase coined by psychiatrist and medical sociologist, Thomas Szasz. Today we will be comparing the ideas of mental health and illness as "problems with living" to the medical model. As sociologists we are not anti-medicine or anti-doctor, but we do feel it necessary to use our perspective breakdown the essence of psychological functioning and how the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a gatekeeper. Hope you enjoy this lively conversation, and please subscribe and give us a rating!

It's just Omar and Penn this week but we tackle an interesting dilemma that has come into the spotlight in the wake of the #MeToo movement - what are we supposed to do when we find out that the art we love was created by monster artists? From Johnny Depp to Michael Jackson to Louis CK, we discuss the various ways in which we can deal with this dilemma. As consumers, what is our responsibility to deal with these monster artists, and is that even the right question to ask? Read the Vox article we discuss before listening to the episode so you can follow along on our website at thesocialbreakdown.com!

There's a few sociology podcasts out there and this week we're lucky enough to have Dr. Joseph Cohen, host of one of our favorites, The Annex Sociology Podcast, on to talk shop! What inspired him to start The Annex? How has he incorporated podcasting into his research? And which episodes of The Annex should you check out? Tune in here to listen to our fun conversation and be sure to check out The Annex (and Joe's other exciting shows) at www.sociocast.org.

We're back y'all!! And we're starting off our third season with a deep dive into the field of the Sociology of Emotions, a relatively young but uber fascinating subfield. What exactly are emotions? How are some emotions more social than others? And why is it that Ellen cried twice watching Avengers: Endgame, while Penn was frustrated and Omar was just a little sad? Tune in to learn more! And remember to give us a rating and subscribe if you haven't already.