Water Ways: Laurie Taylor wades into the deep end with an exploration of human relationships with water. He talks to Veronica Strang, Professor of Anthropology, affiliated to Oxford University, whose latest study takes us from nature worship to the environmental crisis. Early human societies worshipped ‘nature beings’, including water serpent deities who manifested the elemental and generative powers of water. Such beliefs supported collaborative co-existence with the non-human world. How might an understanding of the role and symbolism of water serpents help us turn back the tide of ecological disaster?

They’re joined by Anna Mdee, Professor in the Politics of Global Development at the University of Leeds, who argues that water poverty isn't confined to the Global South, but takes a different form in the western societies, impacting around 20% of households in England and Wales.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

BOXING AND KICKBOXING: Can they transform lives? Boxing has long been cited as a potential cure for a range of social ills, including criminal justice failures, poor mental health and childhood trauma, yet little research has been carried out into how and why such claims exist. Laurie Taylor talks to Deborah Jump, Reader in Criminology at the Manchester Metropolitan University, about the potential of boxing as a mechanism for change among vulnerable groups.

Also, Amit Singh, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Sociology Department at the University of Manchester discusses his study of a kickboxing gym in East London where people struggle to gain an identity as a ‘fighter’, one that transcends race, class, sexuality and gender.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

The Petite Bourgeoisie - Laurie Taylor talks to Daniel Evans, Research Assistant at Cardiff University and author of a new study which explores the unstoppable rise of the lower middle class. Marx predicted that this insecure class, sandwiched between the working class and the bourgeoisie, would be absorbed into the proletariat as artisans died out during the industrial revolution. In fact, it has grown exponentially and is now a significant player within global politics, courted by the right and the left. Far from losing influence, the individualist values associated with it have been popularised by a society which some say fetishizes “aspiration” and entrepreneurship.

They're joined by Nicola Bishop, cultural historian and Senior Teaching Fellow at Loughborough University, whose latest book analyses white collar workers in British popular culture, from the novels of Charles Dickens to comedy TV sitcoms. Why have lower middle class, suburban values become such a staple of our cultural consumption and what can this tell us about national British identity?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

HIGH FINANCE: Laurie Taylor talks to Brett Christophers, Professor in the Department of Human Geography at Uppsala University, Sweden, whose latest book argues that banks have taken a backseat since the global financial crisis . Today, our new economic masters are asset managers who don’t just own financial assets, they also own the roads we drive on; the pipes that supply our drinking water; the farmland that provides our food; energy systems for electricity and heat; hospitals, schools, and even the homes in which many of us live—these all now swell asset managers’ bulging investment portfolios. They’re joined by Megan Tobias Neely, Assistant Professor in the Department of Organization at Copenhagen Business School and author of a study which takes us behind the designer suits and helicopter commutes to provide a glimpse of the lives and times of the mainly white men who dominate the hedge fund industry where about 10,000 firms manage $4 trillion in assets and the average earnings are $1.4 mm a year - which can rise to several billion.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

FASHION RE-IMAGINED: Laurie Taylor talks to Angela McRobbie, Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London about the working lives of independent designers in London, Berlin and Milan, at a time when fashion is under the spotlight due to concerns about the environment and exploitation in the industry. How might we create a more equitable and inclusive fashion future? Also, Kat Jungnickel, Reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths, uncovers the lesser-known clothing inventions which enabled women to access the male preserve of sports, move in new ways and expand female mobility and freedom.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Digital intimacy - Laurie Taylor asks how the algorithms embedded in digital technologies are transforming our relationships. He's joined by Anthony Elliott, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of South Australia and author of a new book which suggests that that machine intelligence is changing the nature of human bonds, from sexual partners to friendship and therapy. Also, Carolina Bandinelli, Associate Professor in Media and Creative Industries at the University of Warwick, discusses her study of Tinder, and other dating apps, and the surprising finding that sex and love are not at the core of how people use them.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

PRISON ABOLITION: Laurie Taylor talks to Tommie Shelby, Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, about a new study which considers the case for ending imprisonment. Mass incarceration and its devastating impact on black communities have been widely condemned as neoslavery or “the new Jim Crow.” Can the practice of imprisonment be reformed, or does justice require it to be ended altogether? They’re joined by Clare McGlynn, Professor of Law at Durham University, who questions 'anti carceral' approaches from a feminist perspective – do they serve the interests of survivors of male violence against women and girls?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Taste and Lifestyle: Laurie Taylor talks to Ben Highmore, Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex, whose latest study explores the ways in which consumer culture remade the tastes of an emerging middle class – from pine kitchen tables to Mediterranean cuisine. Did this world of symbolic goods create new feelings and attitudes?

Also, Michael McMillan, Associate Lecturer for Cultural and Historical Studies at the London College of Fashion, discusses the migrant experience of African-Caribbean families setting up home in the UK in the mid-20th century. How did the artefacts and objects which dressed the West Indian front room provide an outlet for feelings of displacement and alienation in a society where they weren't always made to feel 'at home'?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Dance Culture: Laurie Taylor takes a journey through the dancefloor with the music writer, Emma Warren, whose latest research combines social history and memoir to answer the question 'why do we dance together?' Also, Melin Levent Yuna, a sociologist and anthropologist at Acibaden University, explains why Istanbul has become the Tango capital of the world, after Buenos Aires, in spite of its conservative government.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Democracy: Quinn Slobodian, Professor of the History of Ideas at Wellesley College, takes Laurie Taylor on the journey of radical libertarians who search for the perfect home, free from the burden of democratic oversight, from Hong Kong to Canary Wharf and the Honduras. What accounts for the explosion of new legal entities, including free ports, gated enclaves, city states and special economic zones?

They're joined by Mukulika Banerjee, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics, whose latest study into the lives of West Bengal villagers finds that they promote democratic values in everyday acts of citizenship at a time when Indian democracy is under threat. How do their creative practices around kinship, farming and religion promote republican virtues of cooperation, civility, solidarity and vigilance?

Producer: Jayne Egerton