Thinking Allowed

Migraine: a cultural history. How did a painful and disabling disorder come to be seen as a symptom of femininity? Laurie Taylor talks to Joanna Kempner, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University, about her research into the gendered values which feed into our understanding of pain. Also, 'chavs' and 'pramfaces': Anoop Nayak, Professor in Social and Cultural Geography at Newcastle University, discusses a study into how marginalised young men and women resist the social stigma attached to negative labels. He's joined by Helen Wood, Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Leicester.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Dissident Irish Republicanism - Laurie Taylor talks to John Morrison, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of East London, about his in depth study into the recent intensification of rogue paramilitary activity, Can the upsurge in dissident Republican violence be explained by the history of splits within the Movement? He charts the rise of groups including the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and the newly emerging 'New IRA.' He's joined by Henry Mcdonald, Belfast correspondent at the Observer newspaper.

Ulrich Beck - Angela McRobbie, Professor of Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, gives a tribute to the eminent German sociologist who died earlier this month. What do his ideas about the 'risk society' tell us about current concerns relating to global terrorism?

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Grading universities - The rights and wrongs of the Research Excellence Framework. The REF is the most recent in a series of national assessments of research in British universities. But how reliable and fair are these assessments? Do they give the taxpayer value for money, as is hoped by their advocates? And will they lead to the best and most innovative research in the future? Laurie Taylor asks the questions. He's joined by the former Minister for Higher Education and Conservative MP, David Willets, and by Derek Sayer, Professor of History at the University of Lancaster and author of a recent book which argues that the REF isn't fit for purpose.

Also, living apart together. Sasha Roseneil, co-author of a Europe wide study, examines why a growing number of couples choose to live separately.

Producer: Torquil Macleod.

The militarisation of every day life. Joanna Bourke, Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, talks to Laurie about the multiple ways in which military violence and war play invade our current lives, pervading language and entertainment. Are we irrevocably 'wounding the world'?

Also, Richard Ocejo, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York, takes us on a mystery ride with teenage New Yorkers, showing the diverse ways in which people experience being strangers in public space.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Self-help & self-improvement. As thoughts turn to resolutions and making a fresh start in 2015, Laurie Taylor wonders if his scepticism about self-help books and self-improvement programmes is well founded. He goes for advice to Christine Whelan - Professor in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin and a self-help author. Further enlightenment is provided by Meg John Barker - Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the Open University - who has studied self-help literature dealing with sex and relationships and has also written what she describes as 'an anti self-help book'. And Rebecca Coleman - Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London - explains how TV makeover shows and online dieting sites create powerfully gendered and class-based messages about changing our bodies.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Customs at Christmas and beyond. It may be best not to invite a sociologist for Xmas - they're liable to spend their time chronicling, even questioning your seasonal rituals. In this festive programme, Laurie Taylor looks at the ever shifting nature of our habits, practices and customs; changes in our lives which have been detected and discussed in previous editions of Thinking Allowed. Is our concept of romantic love as timeless as we often presume? How did bathrooms evolve from luxurious Victorian rooms to classless and clinical spaces? Do contemporary constructions of sophisticated drinking downplay the risks of middle class alcohol consumption? In what ways has the elevator changed the status associated with the top and bottom floors of homes and buildings? And when did consumerism cease to be about the satisfaction of mere wants as opposed to the indulgence of hedonistic pleasures? Thinking Allowed subjects the trivial, the everyday and the taken for granted to entertaining sociological scrutiny.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Fat gay men: Laurie Taylor examines a world in which men are doubly stigmatised - for their weight as well as their sexuality. Jason Whitesel, an Assistant Professor in Women's and Gender Studies at Pace University in the US, discusses a study which illuminates how such men negotiate and fight back against a gay culture which places them in an inferior and stigmatised position in the 'attractiveness' hierarchy.They're joined by Paul Simpson, a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Manchester, who has researched the marginality of older gay men on the gay 'scene'.

Also, the masculine world of the butchers. Dr Natasha Slutskaya, lecturer of Organization Studies at Brunel Business School, discusses a study into the values and meanings butchers ascribe to the 'dirty work' of meat production and sale.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Global payday loans: Laurie Taylor talks to Carl Packman, a researcher and writer, who has analysed the growth of a worldwide industry. Today there are more payday lender shops in the US than McDonald's restaurants. They cater mainly to those without access to mainstream credit and with no other option. But how did they evolve and proliferate? And what is their impact on the most financially vulnerable consumers? He's joined by Johnna Montogomery, an economist from Goldsmiths, London.

Also, redundancy at a Welsh aluminium plant. Tony Dobbins, Reader in Employment Studies at Bangor Business School, asks why re-training has failed to provide jobless workers with a fresh future.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Port cities in the global age; from Marseilles to Liverpool and New Orleans. Laurie Taylor talks to Alice Mah, a sociologist at the University of Warwick, about her study of transformation along city waterfronts. What happens when world harbours are relegated to minor seaports? Can they ever return to their former greatness? Also, middle class alcohol use often exceeds safe levels but little research explains why. Lyn Brierley-Jones, a Research Fellow at the University of Sunderland, explores the meaning of drinking amongst professional workers.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Creative Britain: Laurie Taylor explores its rise and fall with the British historian, Robert Hewison, who provides an assessment of the cultural policies of New Labour and the Coalition. Why has culture failed to escape class? Also, a new Sexology exhibition prompts an analysis of the changing field of sex research. Kaye Wellings, Professor of Sexual & Reproductive Health Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, charts a history involving book burning, scandal and shame.