Give Theory A Chance

In this episode, Dr. Daniel Silver, Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Scarborough and author of Scenescapes: how qualities of place shape social life (2020), joins us to discuss and read from Georg Simmel’s Sociology: Inquiries into the Construction of Social Forms (first published in 1908).

Be sure to check out Dan’s co-authored essay on Simmel’s three concepts of form and his co-authored article tracing Simmel’s influence within American sociology since 1975.

In this episode, Jabez Turner interviews Dr. William Turner, Assistant Professor of African & African-American Studies at SUNY Brockport, about W.E.B. Du Bois. Dr. Turner reflects on the importance of Du Bois in his own intellectual development, discusses the marginalization of Du Bois within sociology, and explains how the rigor and depth of Du Bois’s scholarship continues to a valuable model across disciplines.

Dr. Christine Goding-Doty, Assistant Professor in Digital Media in the department of Culture and Media at the New School, introduces us to Aimé Césaire and reads from his foundational essay “Discourse on Colonialism” (1950).

Follow along HERE.

-Kyle-

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Amanda McMillan Lequieu, Associate Professor of Sociology at Drexel University and author of Who We Are Is Where We Are: Making home in the American Rust Belt (2024). Amanda returns to the podcast to discuss foundational humanistic geographer  Yi-Fu Tuan and his influence on her own research and theorizing.

In this episode, Dr. Daniel Silver, Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Scarborough and author of Scenescapes: how qualities of place shape social life (2020), joins us to discuss Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776).

In this episode, we are joined by Mary Peterson, PhD student in philosophy at the University of Hamburg.  

Mary joins us for a guided reading of Iris Marion Young’s 1980 essay “Throwing like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body Comportment Motility and Spatiality.”

Mary helps us understand Young’s contribution to understanding the embodied experience of women in a patriarchal society. We also briefly discuss Mary’s excellent essay “Philosophizing Like a Girl.”

As always, a pdf of the essay discussed is available here, along with a scan of Mary’s handwritten chapter outline.

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Jacqui Frost, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Purdue University and Faculty Research Fellow in the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University and a Center Affiliate in the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at University of Notre Dame.

In our conversation, Jacqui discusses her early encounters with Max Weber as an undergraduate at the University of Wyoming and why she did not initially connect with his ideas. She then helps us understand the value of drawing on Weber’s work and testing his predictions through her research on ritual and community in nonreligious congregations and her collaboration with Dr. Penny Edgell exploring how people discuss contemporary social controversies.

-Kyle-

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Hannah McCann, Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne, author of Queering Femininity: Sexuality, Feminism and the Politics of Presentation, and co-author of Queer Theory Now (which we discussed on an earlier episode of the podcast). In our conversation, Hannah introduces us to the value and joys of reading Judith Butler and discusses why Butler’s theorizing of sex and gender has been demonized by and come under attack from the political right. Hannah helps us better understand Butler’s ideas through reflecting on her own intellectual development and current project on queer hair salons. Hannah also offers us a brief preview of Judith Butler’s recently published Whose Afraid of Gender.

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In this episode we are joined by Ugo Corte, Professor of Sociology at the University of Stavanger, author of Dangerous Fun: The Social Lives of Big Wave Surfers (2022 University of Chicago Press), and winner of the 2023 Charles Horton Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.Ugo introduces us to the work of Gary Alan Fine and discusses his importance as a scholar, theorist, and methodologist. Ugo also discusses the influence of Fine, as well as a plethora of other theorists, on his own research on risky group activities.

*Ugo also mentions the work of previous GTaC guests Seth Abrutyn and Jonathan Wynn!