People Stuff

This week, Michael and Dan dissect the tried-and-true formula of negative political ads, how pharma commercials changed the doctor/patient relationship, and the mysterious consortium of billionaires trying to convince us that Jesus is more relatable than Muhammad.

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Hosted, written, and researched by Michael Scroggins and Daniel Souleles

Produced and edited by Matt Silverman

Why do we care so much about people we've never met?

This week on People Stuff, Dan and Michael are joined by trivia expert and television veteran Arianna Haut—whose résumé includes Jeopardy!, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Chase, and five seasons on Master Minds—to ask what television actually does to us.

Why do celebrities feel like old friends? Is it ever acceptable to talk to a TV star at the gym? Does watching violent shows like The Wire make kids more violent? And what happens when television personalities start occupying more space in our emotional lives than the people sitting in the same room?

Along the way, the crew debates whether streaming has become worse than cable, mourns the possible loss of New York City's legendary Jimmy's Corner bar, accidentally accuses Ted Cruz of being the Zodiac Killer, and wonders whether aging parents increasingly rely on TV personalities for companionship.

It's an episode about celebrity, nostalgia, media panic, parasocial relationships, and the strange human tendency to build genuine feelings for people who have absolutely no idea we exist.

Because television isn't just entertainment.

It's one of the main ways modern humans learn how to be people.

This week on People Stuff, anthropologists Dan and Michael get their hands dirty with the real weirdness of modern life — from politicians oversharing on social media to waiters wanting crypto paychecks to a man who just keeps adding doors to his house.

We’re asking the big questions:

Should politicians be more boring online?

Is crypto a union-busting fever dream?

How many doors are too many doors to the spirit realm?

And can you really fix vaccine hesitancy with darts and cash?

Along the way, Dan and Michael explore why algorithms flatten culture, how anthropology explains “weird” behavior, and what liminality has to do with your living room. It’s people being people — and us trying to make sense of it.

Timestamps:

In this episode, Dan and Michael discuss (and/or are informed by):

The Paranoid Style in American Politics, by Richard Hofstader (https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/)

Boba Fett, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boba_Fett

Dog the Bounty Hunter, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_the_Bounty_Hunter

The Rites of Passage, by Arnold Van Gennep

The Ritual Process, by Victor Turner

Ever wondered why people still warn you to check your kids’ Halloween candy for razor blades — even though it’s never actually happened?

They unpack the folklore behind Halloween candy scares, explore how gossip and political speech both rely on indirect attribution, and dive into what it means when your suburban neighborhood suddenly becomes deer country.

🎧 In this episode:

The anthropology of Halloween and the myth of poisoned candy

How politicians use marketing psychology to sell ideas

Why gossip is dying (and what we lose with it)

The strange suburban ecology of deer and hunters

What ancient festivals and modern politics have in common

Works Cited

The “Lloyd’s List Shipping Podcast” https://www.lloydslist.com/the-lloyds-list-shipping-podcast

“Father Christmas Executed” by Claude Lévi-Strauss https://aphelis.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/LEVI-STRAUSS_1995_Father_Christmas_Executed.pdf

Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262520249/rabelais-and-his-world/

“The Dead Baby Joke” by Alan Dundes https://www.jstor.org/stable/1499238

“A feral science? Dangers and disruptions between DIYbio and the FBI” by Michael Scroggins https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0308275X231157559

That’s it for this week’s People Stuff — the show where two anthropologists try (and sometimes fail) to make sense of people.

If you’ve got a question, a dilemma, or just something deeply weird about humanity you’d like us to unpack, send it our way at people-stuff.com

Why can your closest friends insult you without consequence while a stranger's middle finger can ruin your entire day?

This week on People Stuff, anthropologists Dan and Michael explore honor, reputation, shame, dignity, friendship, and status—from honor cultures and rural gossip networks to modern hiring rituals, HOAs, and the strange social rules that govern respect.

Along the way they discuss:

If you've ever wondered why public embarrassment hurts so much—or why your HOA feels like a tiny authoritarian state—this episode is for you.

Why does wine make people unbearable—and civilization possible?

This week, Dan and Michael uncork the anthropology of wine, from Roman vineyards to supermarket Pinot Noir, asking how globalization transformed taste and why Americans accidentally taught the world to make wine that tastes like vanilla jam.

Along the way they answer listener questions about:

🍷 A Catholic priest in recovery who must choose between sobriety and appearing "normal" during Mass.

🍇 A wine shop owner who spent years chasing great bottles only to discover he can no longer stand the taste.

🎁 A young adult trying to decode one of humanity's oldest social rituals: what exactly are you supposed to bring to a dinner party?

They also debate:

Plus another fake sponsor that absolutely nobody asked for.

Because somewhere between communion wine, dinner parties, and Corn™ lies the secret to being a functional human being.

Are you a “blue brain,” a “Phoebe,” or just a person trying to do your job?

They’ll also diagnose Peter Thiel’s end-times theology, dismantle the eugenic logic of IQ tests, and fix the entire school admissions system (again). Plus, a listener wonders: if your friend only speaks in Sex and the City quotes, are they still your friend… or just a Carrie with Wi-Fi?

🔹 Why workplace personality tests are corporate astrology

As always, it’s academic insight meets anthropological mischief — because we’re anthropologists, and we know stuff about people.

🎧 Listen now at people-stuff.com or on Apple Podcasts: People Stuff

This week, Dan and Michael tackle one of humanity's oldest problems: staying cool. From heat waves and climate adaptation to office air conditioning, Finnish sauna culture, and the strange ways Americans think about bodies, risk, and comfort, they explore what sweating tells us about society.

Along the way they discuss:

As always, listeners write in with impossible problems, Dan proposes another questionable solution during Fixing Shit, and the episode ends with another completely trustworthy fake sponsor.

If you've ever wondered why everyone complains about the weather, why employers keep firing and rehiring workers, or why Finnish people think American saunas are embarrassingly cold, this episode is for you.

Why can your closest friends insult you without consequence while a stranger's middle finger can ruin your entire day?

This week on People Stuff, anthropologists Dan and Michael explore honor, reputation, shame, dignity, friendship, and status—from honor cultures and rural gossip networks to modern hiring rituals, HOAs, and the strange social rules that govern respect.

Along the way they discuss:

If you've ever wondered why public embarrassment hurts so much—or why your HOA feels like a tiny authoritarian state—this episode is for you.

That’s it for this week’s People Stuff — the show where two anthropologists try (and sometimes fail) to make sense of people.

If you’ve got a question, a dilemma, or just something deeply weird about humanity you’d like us to unpack, send it our way at people-stuff.com

Credits

Produced by Gabe Bullard
Music by The Endless Bummer
Art by Siobhan Henegan
Marketing by Bryan Haut
Legal support by The Law Office of Matthew Shayefar, the one true business uncle.

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So go to people-stuff.com