Thinking Allowed

What does it mean to grow older in Britain today? Laurie Taylor explores the changing realities of later life, from health and independence to inequality and support.

Professor Judith Phillips OBE, Professor of Gerontology at the University of Stirling, is the former Research Director of the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge - a major national programme which brought together researchers, businesses and communities to develop new ways of supporting people to remain active, independent and socially connected as they age. She describes projects including older people using virtual reality headsets to help design better layouts and living spaces in their homes. You can find out more about that here https://www.deshca.co.uk/resources/

Dr Kingsley Purdam, of the University of Manchester, discusses research done with his colleague Jill Ebrey, which examined the quieter, often hidden experience of financial insecurity in later life, and the barriers that prevent many older people from accessing the support they need.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

What does it really mean to give something away - or to buy something second-hand? And what, in the process, are we choosing not to see?

Triona Fitton, Senior Lecturer in Sociology from the University of Kent, asks questions about charity shops and second-hand consumption. Drawing on research inside charity shops, Triona explores the tension between charitable ideals and commercial pressures, describing a “quiet economy” of hidden labour and everyday decision-making. While donating or buying second-hand can feel virtuous, she argues that this can obscure a more complex global system where large quantities of our second hand goods are dumped or burned, with environmental and social consequences.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

How have South Asian communities in Britain fought for rights, dignity and belonging - and what can that history teach us today?

Laurie Taylor explores the overlooked histories of labour struggle, resistance and political activism among South Asian communities in Britain. From early anti-colonial networks to the strikes and campaigns of the 1970s and 80s, the programme traces how successive generations confronted discrimination while shaping British society.

He is joined by Taj Ali, writer and historian whose forthcoming book 'Come What May, We’re Here to Stay' (publishing in September) charts more than four centuries of South Asian presence in Britain. Drawing on oral histories and archival research, he traces a long tradition of workers campaigning for better pay and conditions, communities organising against racism, and alliances forming across movements. Ali reflects on tensions within the labour movement and on moments of solidarity, including the Grunwick dispute and links forged during the miners’ strike.

Also joining the discussion is Aleena Din, Simon Research Fellow from the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on Huddersfield as a local site of resistance, where communities responded to racism, fascism and deindustrialisation. Through archival work and “witness seminars,” she reconstructs networks of support while also revealing the disagreements and competing ambitions that shaped them.

The programme highlights how these struggles unfolded not only in major cities but also in smaller industrial towns, challenging London-centric accounts of race and activism. It also brings into focus the role of women, from grassroots organising to leading disputes such as Grunwick, where South Asian women challenged both racism and sexism at work.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

What happens when we tell the story of modern Britain as part of a much bigger, global history? Professor Kate Pickett OBE has recently been appointed as the UK's first-ever Professor for the Public Understanding of Social Science at the University of York. She tells Laurie about the importance of her new role at a time when social inequalities are starker than ever. Les Back (Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow) and Gurminder Bhambra (Professor of Historical Sociology at the University of Sussex) continue the discussion on the crucial nature of sociology in contemporary society and consider the ways in which it can help us rethink the past.

As the current President of the British Sociological Association, Les Back reflects on its seventy-five years of existence and reflects on a discipline that has often felt under pressure. From early post-war concerns with the welfare state to ideas inspired by feminism and anti-racism, he traces sociology’s shifting priorities - and argues for a more open, inclusive “sociological imagination”, alive to the importance of community in an increasingly individualised world.

Gurminder Bhambra argues that rather than simply “decolonising” knowledge, we need to put colonial histories back at the centre of how we understand society. From the global networks that made the Industrial Revolution possible to the overlooked contributions of colonial subjects to British prosperity, she explores how these hidden connections continue to shape debates about migration, belonging and inequality.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

As a new World Cup approaches, what does it mean that gambling now sits so close to the heart of football - and how far has the game travelled from its local roots?

Laurie Taylor explores two distinct ways of understanding football’s place in contemporary society. He’s joined by Darragh McGee from the University of Bath, whose book Imitation Games charts the rapid rise of gambling and its growing entanglement with the sport. McGee reflects on how this shift has been normalised, particularly among younger supporters, and considers the broader social consequences of an increasingly immersive and continuous online gambling environment.

Adam Dinsmore from Manchester Metropolitan University's Institute of Sport focuses not on football’s global reach but on its local meanings. Drawing on research with supporters in post-industrial towns such as Blackburn and Middlesbrough, he examines how football clubs continue to function as powerful symbols of place-identity. In communities shaped by de-industrialisation, where traditional forms of work and collective life have eroded, the local club often remains one of the last enduring institutions linking past and present.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

What does it mean to undertake "ethical" research in complex and changing social settings?

Marion Vannier, from the University of Manchester, uses diaries and letters written by prisoners in her research with older men serving life sentences. Her work, including ‘Project Hope’, offers an insight into the experience of ageing behind bars, showing how ideas such as “hope” aren't always a positive. She discusses the difficult questions about trust, representation and responsibility when putting prisoners’ own voices centre stage and in the public domain.

Helen Busby is an independent research Ethics Advisor who has edited a new collection of essays Reframing Qualitative Research Ethics. She argues ethics cannot be reduced to fixed rules or procedural checklists, but are shaped by negotiation, reflection and the realities of research practice. The book brings together detailed case studies of dilemmas encountered in the field, alongside proposals for reform, including a more flexible review processes, discipline-specific approaches and a broader emphasis on research integrity.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

What does Émile Durkheim’s 1897 study of suicide tell us about the social conditions that shape whether life feels worth living and how does a current project add to our understanding?

Laurie Taylor is joined by Alexander Oaten, from the University of Lincoln, and Sarah Huque, from the University of Edinburgh who are involved in Discovering Liveability: Co-producing Alternatives to Suicide Prevention - a seven-year Wellcome Trust funded collaboration. This sets out to challenge the way suicide prevention is usually framed. Rather than focusing on moments of crisis, the project asks a different question: how can we create societies in which life feels more liveable and what insights can you gain from people who have experienced suicidal thoughts?

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

If you’re suffering distress or despair and need support, including urgent support, a list of organisations that can help is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline

What does an 18-month study of residents on a housing estate in southern England tell us about living with debt? Laurie Taylor talks to Ryan Davey from Cardiff University about his new book The Personal Life of Debt - Coercion, Subjectivity and Inequality in Britain, which tries to understand how debt affects people emotionally as well as economically.

Laurie is also joined by Sarah Kerr (LSE International Inequalities Institute), whose book, Wealth, Poverty and Enduring Inequality - Let’s Talk Wealtherty, investigates the stubborn persistence of inequality in the UK. Kerr argues that the gap between top and bottom earners has become entrenched and normalised across generations.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

What can the worlds of mountaineering and endurance running reveal about changing ideas of freedom, identity and the body? Laurie Taylor talks to Sarah Lonsdale, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at City, University of London, about her new book Wildly Different - her study of early 20th‑century women who sought autonomy through outdoor adventure. She focuses on the mountaineer Dorothy Pilley, whose Alpine achievements and reflective writing challenged prevailing assumptions about femininity and physical capability.

In 'Dirtbag Dreams', Carl Morris (sociologist, historian and social psychologist from the University of Lancashire) explores the history of mountain, ultra and trail running in the US and Britain from its origins right up until today. He asks if the ever-increasing popularity of these sports risk making them overly commercial and corporate? A keen fell runner himself, Morris examines the distinctive values that shape these endurance communities, including ideas of authenticity, self‑sufficiency and the pursuit of physical extremity.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez

What explains the apparent decline of grand theory in sociology, and what does this shift mean for the discipline today? Laurie Taylor asks whether sociologists are now less inclined to engage with large, overarching theoretical frameworks, and explores the reasons behind this change.

He is joined by Professor Les Back (University of Glasgow) and Professor Imogen Tyler (University of Lancaster), who consider whether theory still resonates within contemporary sociology and, if so, which thinkers remain most influential. Who are the discipline’s most cited theorists today, and which grand figures - such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Foucault - continue to shape sociological thought?

It may be argued that theory remains stronger within feminist and women’s studies traditions, but what does this suggest about long‑standing questions concerning the gendered character of theory itself?

Laurie Taylor and guests set out to consider which new or emerging theoretical approaches offer fresh ways of understanding familiar social phenomena, and whether they signal a transformation in the discipline or simply a reworking of older sociological concerns.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez