Elites: Laurie Taylor explores the anti elitism which has become a common staple of media commentary and political rhetoric. He talks to Eliane Glaser, Reader in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, and author of a new study arguing that we are taking aim at the wrong enemy and confusing a corporate elite, which does pose a threat to many of us, with people who make our lives worth living, even save our lives – from doctors and lawyers to writers and artists. Are we letting the ‘real’ elite off the hook? They’re joined by William Davies,  Professor of Political Economy at Goldsmiths, University of London, whose latest book takes stock of our historical moment and claims  that the basic norms of public life have been thrown into question, as the status of political parties, mainstream media and public experts have been undermined. Producer: Jayne Egerton

Elites

Science

Richard Sennett, leading cultural and social thinker and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, talks to Laurie Taylor. Growing up in a housing project in Chicago, he originally trained in music. An accident put paid to his cello playing and he turned to sociology. Over five decades he’s documented the social life of cities, work in modern society and the sociology of culture. His latest study explores the relations between performing in art (particularly music), politics and everyday experience.  It draws personally on Sennett's early career as a professional cellist and explores the dangerous and ambiguous nature of performance, from the French theorist, Michel Foucault's hypnotic lectures to the demagoguery of contemporary politicians. He describes the tragic performances of unemployed dockworkers in New York City in the 1960s, as they competed for a dwindling number of jobs, and Aids patients in a Catholic hospital doing a reading of As You Like It and displaying defiance in the face of death and religious disapproval.   Producer: Jayne Egerton

Richard Sennett

Anonymity and self creation: Laurie Taylor talks to Thomas DeGloma, Associate Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, about hidden identities and how and why we use anonymity, for good or ill.  He explores a wide range of historical and contemporary cases, from the Ku Klux Klan to 'Dr H' the psychiatrist who disguised his identity in a meeting which changed his profession's regressive attitudes towards homosexuality.  In recent years, anonymity has featured widely in the political and social landscape:  from  the pseudonymous artist, Banksy, to Hackers Anonymous and QAnon.  What is anonymity, and why, under various circumstances, do individuals act anonymously? How do individuals use it, and, in some situations, how is it imposed on them?  Also, Tara Isabella Burton, Visiting Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, on the crafting of public personae, from Beau Brummell to the Kardashians. She finds the trend for personal branding, amongst ordinary people as well as celebrities,  originated with the idea that we could shape our own destiny,  once the power of the church had waned.  What are the connections between the Renaissance genius and the Regency dandy, the Hollywood 'IT' girl and Reality TV star? Might there be social costs to seeing self-determination as the fundamental element of human life? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Anonymity - Self-creation

Capitalism –  what's the story behind the word and a cross cultural survey of peoples attitudes to it.  Laurie Taylor talks to Michael Sonenscher, Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge about the evolution of a word which was first coined in France in the early 19th century. How has its meaning changed over time and how can a historical analysis shed light on political problems in the here and now? What’s at stake in our understanding or misunderstanding of  the term?   They’re joined by the German sociologist and historian, Rainer Zitelmann, whose latest study argues that many people are buying into myths about Capitalism and includes the largest international survey of attitudes towards our economic system.  He finds negative attitudes to be widespread, including in Great Britain, the motherland of Capitalism  -  only in 12 countries are attitudes more critical. What accounts for this disillusion?  Producer: Jayne Egerton

Capitalism

Traditionalism and Russian Orthodox Converts – Laurie Taylor talks to Mark Sedgwick, Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at Aarhus University, about the radical project for restoring sacred order. Traditionalism is founded on ancient teachings that, its followers argue, have been handed down from time immemorial and which must be defended from modernity. How has this mystical doctrine come to have contemporary sway on the political right, inspiring ex President Trump's former chief strategist, as well as  the Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, sometimes dubbed as “Putin’s brain”? They’re joined by Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, Assistant Professor of Religion and Anthropology at Northeastern University, Boston,  who has uncovered an extraordinary story of religious conversion in one corner of Appalachia. Here, a group of American citizens has embraced the Russian Orthodox Church and through it Putin’s New Russia.  They look to Russian religion and politics for answers to Western secularism and the loss of traditional family values.  Producer: Jayne Egerton

Traditionalism - Russian Orthodox Converts

THE ENGLISH: Laurie Taylor asks how the country house became ‘English’ and explores changing  notions of Englishness over the past 60  years. He’s joined by  Stephanie Barczewski, Professor of Modern British History at Clemson University, South Carolina and author of a new book which examines the way the country house came to embody national values of continuity and stability, even though it has lived through eras of violence and disruption. Also, David Matless,  Professor of Cultural Geography at Nottingham University, considers the way that England has been imagined since the 1960s, from politics to popular culture, landscape and music. How have twenty-first-century concerns and anxieties in the Brexit moment been moulded by events over previous decades? Producer: Jayne Egerton

Elites

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