The University of Chicago Press Podcast

In his new book, Modernity and the Jews in Western Social Thought (University of Chicago Press, 2017), Chad Alan Goldberg looks at how social thinkers from Karl Marx, to Emile Durkheim, to Robert Park mobilized ideas and ideologies about Jews to conceptualize the big themes of modernity. Goldberg shows for example how inherited schemas, which had historically painted Jews as both backwards “Orientals” and, at the same time, as ultra-modern cosmopolitans, were mobilized consciously and unconsciously to serve different sociological theories. That is, as Goldberg illustrates, because of their contradictory and ambivalent status within the European imagination, the Jew became a central object of study and a key symbol for social theorists, a symbol that they found useful for thinking through the contradictions and ambivalences of nationhood and citizenship in France, economics and power in Germany, and urbanization and assimilation in the United States. As Goldberg writes, in a phrase borrowed from Claude Levi-Strauss, “Jews were good to think.”In this episode, we talk about Durkheim’s reactions to the reactionary right, and how his view about Jews may have informed other aspects of his thought; we talk about the Chicago schools idea of assimilation, which, as Goldberg argues, begins with recognizing the “marginal man” as a key character of the Modern era and ends with a vision of diversity and collaboration; we talk about the two different ways Karl Marx depicted Jews and their relationship to capital and to European history; and we talk about how the Jew or rather, the figure of the Jew continues to serve “as an intermediary for self-reflection in our own time.”Daveeda Goldberg is a PhD candidate in the Department of Humanities at York University, in Toronto, Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor George Paul Meiu‘s debut anthropological book, Ethno-erotic Economies: Sexuality, Money, and Belonging in Kenya (University of Chicago Press, 2017), dives into the commodification of culture and sex on the beachfronts of coastal Kenya, as well as the ramifications and shifting economic power dynamics in rural Samburu villages that result from this new economy. Utilizing over a decade of community engagement and research, Meiu expertly engages in intense anthropological study without exploitation and judgment. Rather he succeeds in humanizing his subjects as he explores the creation and development of a new economy, that of engaging with white, largely Western European women, in romantic relationships in exchange for money, goods and, eventually, higher economic and social status in their home rural communities. But with this new economy comes challenges to traditional social structures, as sexuality and wealth intersect with traditional land tenure and power. Meiu, with his deep understanding of the Samburu people, rituals and culture, explores how power dynamics change, and how new money is challenged and reconciled. This book is highly readable, without skimping on academic literature and theoretical context, resulting in a book that will engage everyone from first year anthropology students through seasoned academics.Erin Freas-Smith, Ph.D can be reached at efreassmith@gmail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thomas Kuhn upset both scientists and philosophers of science when he argued that transitions from one scientific framework (or “paradigm”) to another were irrational: the change was like a religious conversion experience rather than a reasoned shift from one theory to another based on the best evidence. But even if one disagrees with Kuhn, how can this change be shown to be rational? More generally, how can transitions from one set of normative standards to another be rational, given that there is no neutral position from which to criticize one’s own normative standards? In Creatively Undecided: Toward a History and Philosophy of Scientific Agency (University of Chicago Press, 2017), Menachem Fisch takes up this challenge, defending an account of framework change which accepts that we cannot be self-critical of our own standards, but we can be destabilized by external criticism. Some of those who are “ambivalated” in this way creatively attempt to tackle their ambivalence by developing hybrid theories that provide others in a scientific community with a means to critically assess their frameworks and develop new ones. Fisch, who is Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Tel Aviv University, draws on work from Korsgaard, Friedman, Galison, McDowell and others in a rich discussion of the dynamics of normativity in science, illustrated with a case study of debates on the foundations of algebra in the 1830s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout Western history the clean-shaven face has been the default style. However, the ideal of the cleanly-shaven face has been challenged across time in Western society. Facial hair is a symbol of masculinity and the sculpting of facial hair allows men to negotiate their manliness in public spaces. In Of Beard and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair (University of Chicago Press, 2015), Dr. Christopher Oldstone-Moore discusses Western history of the beard and how beard movements have been developed to challenge the ideals of masculinity presented in wearing facial hair. He traces the history of the beard from Hadrian in the second century to the more recent bristled resurgence of today. Dr. Oldstone-Moore presents the beard as being a symbol of self-reliance and being unconventional, whereas the clean-shaven face presents a virtuous and sociable man.Christopher R. Oldstone-Moore, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer of History at Wright State University. Dr. Oldstone-Moore’s research focuses on gender and masculinity, and particularly the aspect of the hair and body. He is currently researching the history of adventure.Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He earned his doctoral degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Walden University. His most recent paper, to be presented at the upcoming American Society for Environmental History conference, is titled “Down Lovers Lane: A Brief History of Necking in Cars.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The concept of late-night basketball gained prominence in the late 1980s when G. Van Standifer founded Midnight Basketball League as a vehicle upon which citizens, businesses, and institutions can stand together to prevent crime, violence, and drug abuse. The concept ignited and late-night basketball leagues were developed in dozens of cities across America. In Midnight Basketball: Race, Sports, and Neoliberal Social Policy (University of Chicago Press, 2016), Douglas Hartmann traces the history of late-night basketball with particular emphasis on the racial ideologies, cultural tensions, and institutional realities that continue to shape sports-based social policy. Hartmann brings to life the experience he had as a researcher in the field working with late-night basketball programs and the young men they were intended to serve. This experience provided him with a more grounded and nuanced understanding of the intricate ways sports, race, and risk intersect and interact in urban America.Douglas Hartman is a professor and the chair of sociology at University of Minnesota.Michael O. Johnston is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He earned his doctoral degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Walden University. His most recent paper, to be presented at the upcoming American Society for Environmental History conference, is titled “Down Lovers Lane: A Brief History of Necking in Cars.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our hyper polarized world, it is easy to assume that this is a natural state of being, the result of natural shifts in politics. In Sam Rosenfeld‘s new book, The Polarizers: Postwar Architects of Our Partisan Era (University of Chicago Press, 2018), he argues otherwise. Rosenfeld takes us back to the 1940s when another crisis of polarization dominated the headlines. Instead of too much, scholars worried about too little. No less than E. E. Schattschneider championed a debate on whether a move to more clearly identifiable parties would improve democracy through so-called “responsible parties.” Over time, informed by the ideas of political scientists, the two parties did in fact shift, taking on much clearer ideological agendas and issue positions. Unlike the 1940s, it is much clearer to voters what it means to vote for one party or the other.Rosenfeld tracks the people—the Architects in his subtitle—who initiated changes in party rules and institutions that facilitated the development of the parties. The book is rich in historical details and meaning for our current political moment.Rosenfeld is an assistant professor of political science at Colgate University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a United States senator in the 1930s and 1940s, Arthur Vandenberg was one of the leading Republican voices shaping the nation’s foreign policy. Though initially a staunch isolationist, as Hendrik Meijer explains in Arthur Vandenberg: The Man in the Middle of the American Century (University of Chicago Press, 2017), Vandenberg eventually became one of the foremost advocates for America’s engagement with the world. As a young man Vandenberg embarked upon a career as a journalist, and soon rose to become the editor of the local newspaper in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Vandenberg’s platform made him a force in state politics, and his editorials enjoyed a national readership among Republican leaders. Appointed to the Senate in 1928, Vandenberg soon made a name for himself for his ability to compromise on legislation, and with the electoral decimation of the party in Congress in the 1930s he emerged as one of its most prominent figures. Meijer details the ways in which Vandenberg used his stature to shape American policy, from his role in the drafting of the United Nations Charter to his involvement in the passage of the Marshall Plan and the treaty that established NATO. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A city in its original state is arbitrary and has no meaning. The act of placemaking is a multifaceted process in the planning, designing, and management of public spaces. The social construction of meaning is a process that capitalizes on the assets, inspiration, and potential of a public space. This meaning is constructed from the social and emotional sentiments that people evoke from the city. The structural and physical aspects of the city are less important. Jonathan R. Wynn, the author of Music/City: American Festivals and Placemaking in Austin, Nashville, and Newport (University of Chicago, 2015) and my guest for this episode, studied the process of placemaking through observing major music festivals for the cities of Austin, Texas; Nashville, Texas; and Newport, Rhode Island. In our interview, we discuss how this study was shaped from his past study on tour guides and how community members serve as major contributors to placemaking. Wynn also shares his thoughts on the current climate of music festivals in the United States compared to Canada.Jonathan R. Wynn, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Undergraduate Program Director at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Dr. Wynn is an urban sociologist who published The Tour Guide: Walking and Talking New York and regularly contributes to the Everyday Sociology blog. He is currently working on a project about hospitals as a central hub for urban communities.Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He earned his doctoral degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Walden University. His most recent paper, to be presented at the upcoming American Society for Environmental History conference, is titled “Down Lovers Lane: A Brief History of Necking in Cars.” You can learn more about Dr. Johnston’s work here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We tend to think of ourselves—our modern selves–as disenchanted. We have traded magic, myth, and spirits for science, reason, and logic. But this is false. Jason Josephson-Storm, in his exciting new book titled The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences (University of Chicago Press, 2017) challenges this classical story of modernity. Josephson-Storm, associate professor in and chair of the Department of Religion at Williams College, argues that modernity is riddled with magic, and that attempts to curtail it have often failed. Adding a twist to a well-known expression, he writes that we have never been disenchanted. Josephson-Storm investigates the human sciences—philosophy, psychoanalysis, sociology, and folklore studies, to name a few—which were critical to the creation and spread of the myth of a mythless society. But the human sciences were themselves also deeply entangled with magic. They often, Josephson-Storm reveals, emerged from occult origins, flirted with the paranormal, or even produced new enchantments. As can be surmised from this brief description, the audience of The Myth of Disenchantment will be a broad and eclectic one. The book will be of interest to scholars in religious studies, science and technology studies, and historians of philosophy, science, ideas, culture, and Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Catherine Zuckert‘s new book, Machiavelli’s Politics (University of Chicago Press, 2017), systematically analyzes all the texts that Machiavelli wrote, exploring each text individually, but also as part of Machiavelli’s more expansive teaching as a philosopher, but more precisely as a philosopher of politics. Zuckert examines not only Machiavelli’s own work, but she also integrates the vast scholarship of Machiavelli’s work, exploring others scholars assessment of Machiavelli’s particular project in each work and also the broader interpretation of Machiavelli as a political thinker. Machiavelli’s reputation has long been a caricature of his actual work and teaching, and Zuckert’s book delves into not only the reason for his reputation, but also how and where it is derived in the texts themselves, often at the expense or in the absence of attention to corresponding teachings in other texts, especially texts beyond The Prince. Zuckert not only pays attention to the texts themselves and the myriad other works of scholarship and analysis, she also unpacks the historical data that Machiavelli integrates into his work while focusing on the ways in which the texts are dedicated, to whom, and how these aspects of the texts are important to understanding the content as well.By exploring all of Machiavelli’s works, and how they connect to each other and refract the teaching in each text, Zuckert goes on to elucidate Machiavelli’s political project, which she explains provides a kind of teaching that is distinct from classical theorists as well as those who came after Machiavelli and who wrote in a much different manner. Machiavelli’s Politics is not only a beautifully written book, clear and complex simultaneously, it is an extraordinary resource with extensive integration of other works and scholars who have delved into analyzing and considering Machiavelli’s works over multiple centuries from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices