In this podcast episode, Professor Rodney Coates and David Fasenfest discuss how sociology can draw on both poetry and creative pursuits more broadly to engage people. Then Professor Coates discusses the role of religion in his development as a sociologist before turning to a discussion on Black Lives Matter and the ongoing need to eradicate racism in society. This is the first in a multi-part conversation with Professor Coates.

In this podcast episode, Martha Gimenez discusses the state of Marxist feminism in sociological scholarship. Drawing on theories of intersectionality she elaborates on the ongoing need for social movements to move beyond identity politics to create solidarity networks that transcend class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality.

In this podcast episode, Sam Binkley of Emerson College discusses his book Happiness as Enterprise: An Essay on Neoliberal Life (2015, SUNY Press). Here he elaborates on the ways individuals are encouraged to become entrepreneurs of themselves in order to achieve happiness within an ideology that emphasizes individual agency while concealing the significance of social structure in shaping people’s lives.

This is the second part of my conversation with Tony Paris, lead attorney at the Sugarlaw Center for Economic and Social Justice, in Detroit Michigan. We discuss the legacy of civil right and labor lawyer Maurice Sugar as an activist and song-writer and play his well-known labor anthem, “Sit-Down.” Afterward  we discuss Tony Paris’ new project, putting music to lost lyrics by Maurice Sugar, and play the Sugar/Paris song “We are the Ones.”

Tony Paris discusses the work of the Sugarlaw Center in Detroit. Sugarlaw is a non-profit workers rights advocacy organization. Tony discusses Michigan’s Emergency Manager law, and the Sugarlaw Center’s attempt to overturn that law. He also talks about labor lawyer Maurice Sugar, inspiration for the Center’s work. Sugar was involved in the Ford Hunger March, the rise of the UAW, and the local Socialist Party. In later years, Walter Reuther broke with Sugar over the latter’s supposed ties to the Communist Party.

Jessica Payette and Graham Cassano discuss their joint project, with Rima Lunin Schultz, Eleanor Smith’s Hull House Songs: The Music of Protest and Hope in Jane Addams’ Chicago (Brill, forthcoming). Smith was the head of the Hull House Music School during Jane Addams' tenure as head resident. In addition to being a pedagogical theorist, an administrator, and a teacher, Smith was a composer trained in the formal German and American music traditions. In this second podcast, we discuss Smith's relationship to social activism and her songs "The Shadow Child" and "Land of the Noonday Night."

Jessica Payette and Graham Cassano discuss their joint project, with Rima Lunin Schultz, Eleanor Smith’s Hull House Songs: The Music of Protest and Hope in Jane Addams’ Chicago (Brill, forthcoming). Smith was the head of the Hull House Music School during Jane Addams' tenure as head resident. In addition to being a pedagogical theorist, an administrator, and a teacher, Smith was a composer trained in the formal German and American music traditions. In this podcast, we discuss the origin of Smith's work, her goals, and the song "The Sweat Shop."

J Sumerau discusses some ways in which sociological concepts may be useful in forestalling and mitigating obstacles and inefficiencies in clinical settings.

Thomas Kersen discusses how to convey insights from the discipline of Sociology to reporters, writers, and other opinion leaders.

Lindy Hern discusses her paper on her scholar activism within the Movement for Single Payer Health Care Reform and its implications for the grassroots mobilization of this movement.