Culture Study Podcast

Culture Study Podcast episodes:

• 05.01.2024

  How Did Goodreads Get So Bad?

  A platform where you can record what you’re reading and talk to others about what they’re reading doesn’t sound like a recipe for dystopia. But throw in a negligent billionaire conglomerate owner, optimization culture, and a competitive industry in which...

  
• 04.24.2024

  Taylor Swift and the Tortured Poets Aesthetic

  A listener submitted a question earlier this week that was basically: Why are we talking about Taylor Swift again???? And I get it: if you’re not a fan, if her music is not for you, you too might be tired...

  
• 04.17.2024

  The Country Heart of Cowboy Carter

  Who can force a nationwide conversation about musical genre for a whole damn month? Beyoncé can. And I knew I wanted to be several weeks into that discussion — and several weeks into my own relationship with the album —...

  
• 04.10.2024

  The Insidious Influence of Moms for Liberty

  Moms For Liberty sucks. I’m not going to even try to soften that statement, because it’s true: they’re an ideologically regressive organization that is wielding the idea of “parental rights” to censor books, teachers, and instructional materials. They make it...

  
• 04.03.2024

  We know sitting is bad for us. But what are we supposed to do instead?

  Driving, attending meetings, hunching over laptops, zooming, commuting, absentmindedly scrolling Instagram — so much of contemporary life encourages if not outright demands that we sit. But study after study (and maybe just your own body) has told you: this much sitting...

  
• 03.27.2024

  Come Drink From the Stanley Cup

  As any Pacific Northwest teen from the ‘90s and early 2000s who carted a Nalgene around campus can tell you: WATER BOTTLE CULTURE IS NOT NEW. As pretty much any Grandpa or Boomer Dad can tell you: NEITHER IS...

  
• 03.20.2024

  The Intoxicating Ease of Kevin Bacon's Instagram

  I occasionally encounter someone who asks: Who would follow a celebrity on Instagram? Lady, I WOULD. I do! I follow celebrities who I actually like and celebrities who I find weird and complicated (Gwen Stefani, hi) and celebrities I wrote...

  
• 03.13.2024

  Student Loans Are Culture

  What does it mean to think of student loans as culture? First off, it means that we can think of them as something that’s changeable. Because as much as we’ve come to think of massive piles of debt as “just...

  
• 03.06.2024

  The ACOTAR Chokehold

  If you’ve been in a bookstore lately, you’ve undoubtedly seen it: A Court of Thorns and Roses, better known as ACOTAR, ruling over the paperback bestsellers with all its sequel pals. These books are behemoths. They’re massive. They’ve sold millions...

  
• 02.28.2024

  Your Questions About Butts, Answered

  Every so often, I do a Culture Study (newsletter) interview that inspires a LOT of follow-up questions — and the podcast is the perfect forum to address them, particularly when the interviewee is as smart and hilarious and curious as...

  
• 02.21.2024

  What's Bradley Cooper's Deal?

  Bradley Cooper would very much like an Oscar. If you’ve been paying attention to Hollywood at any point over the last five years, you know this. It’s evident in the films he makes, the way he talks about them, the...

  
• 02.14.2024

  Is Divorce Actually Contagious?

  Maybe you’ve seen it happen, or maybe you’ve just heard it whispered: divorce is contagious. One person in a friend group gets divorced, and suddenly it seems like EVERYONE is. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but we wanted to have...

  
• 02.07.2024

  Is Personal Coaching a Scam?

  Today, there are coaches for everything. Business, fitness, careers, breastfeeding, parenting, ADHD, MLMs, divorce… even death. Is it b******t? Or is it offering a valuable service? And how can you tell the difference in a totally unregulated space? Jane Marie,...

  
• 01.31.2024

  The Bizarre World of Celebrity Philanthropy

  Philanthropy is so weird. Celebrities: also weird. When the two collide, you get something even more bizarre. Why should we believe what Ashton Kutcher has to say about human trafficking? How did Bill Gates change the very core of his...

  
• 01.24.2024

  The Curious Return of 2000s Music

  At some point in the last year I looked around and realized… 2000s music was EVERYWHERE. Nelly Furtado. Timbaland. Eminem. 50 Cent. MGMT. In Bama Rush videos. At sports games. In the background of TikToks of teens plaintively yearning to...

  
• 01.17.2024

  The Cult of Cold Plunging

  This week I get my “cold plunge curious” partner Charlie Warzel to come on the pod and talk about how cold plunging suddenly feels like it’s everywhere, the science (some interesting, some junk) behind it, whether it’s been “bro-ified,” who’s...

  
• 01.10.2024

  The Mutated IP of the Mean Girls Reboot

  This week I’m joined by Michelle Cyca to talk about the trailer for the Mean Girls reboot. You might think: wow, that’s a very small thing to focus on, what could you possibly talk about for 45 minutes… but just...

  
• 01.03.2024

  Rich Dudes Driving in Circles

  For the fifth episode of the Culture Study podcast I’m joined by Nicole Washington to talk about all things F1: what’s behind the recent rise, is it in fact Real Housewives of Monaco, what’s the current drama, and so much...

  
• 12.27.2023

  The Pernicious Laziness of Paw Patrol

  For the fourth episode of the Culture Study podcast I’m joined by Philip Maciak — who manages to be a professor, the television critic for The New Republic, and an avid consumer of children’s television — to talk about Paw Patrol....

  
• 12.20.2023

  Why Are We So Obsessed with Taylor + Travis?

  Esteemed law professor Leah Litman, co-host of Strict Scrutiny, joins me and Melody to talk about all things TAYLOR + TRAVIS. Like: How did Taylor make the transition from big time pop star to BIGGEST POP STAR? How do...

  
• 12.13.2023

  We're All Infrastructure Nerds

  For the second episode of the Culture Study podcast, we’re diving into the nerdy and awesome and frustrating world of the infrastructure that surrounds us. Why are sidewalks so bad in so many places? How do we undo car dependencies?...

  
• 12.06.2023

  Why Do Clothes Suck Now?

  For the maiden voyage of the Culture Study podcast, we’re taking a hard look at a problem that plagues us all: terrible clothes. Why are shirts falling apart or pilling after just a few wears? Why does Gucci charge $3200...

  
• 11.27.2023

  Introducing the Culture Study Podcast

  Everything is interesting. That idea has guided the tremendously popular Culture Study newsletter, and it’s at the heart of the Culture Study Podcast, where host Anne Helen Petersen and the smartest people she knows answer listeners’ questions about the nooks...