Give Theory A Chance

In this episode we are joined by Dr. Madeleine Pape, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Science in Human Culture program at Northwestern University. Madeleine introduces us to the work of Anne Fausto-Sterling and discusses how Fausto-Sterling demands a move beyond a strictly binary model of sex and encourages a shift away […]

In this episode we are joined by Jaclyn Wypler, a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jaclyn joins us to reflect on her shift from not being a fan of theory to being an organizer of the 2020 Junior Theorists Symposium. Jaclyn shares what her approach to theory and cookies have in […]

In this episode we are joined by Ricarda Hammer, a PhD candidate in Sociology at Brown University and a Graduate Fellow at Brown’s Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. Her work has been published in Sociological Theory, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Political Power and Social Theory, and Teaching Sociology. Ricarda discusses the powerful insight […]

In this episode we are joined once again by Seth Abrutyn, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Seth joins us to discuss what sociology can potentially add to the public conversation that surrounds COVID-19. In our conversation, Seth touches on the value of a number of theorists including Emile Durkheim, Erving […]

In this episode, Amy Guptill, Professor of Sociology at The College at Brockport, State University of New York, discusses her recent discovery of Niklas Luhmann and systems theory. In particular, Amy reflects on how Luhmann avoids some of the negatives associated with his intellectual mentor Talcott Parsons and provides a powerful tool to better conceptualize […]

In this episode we are joined by Richard Pringle, Professor of Sport, Health and Physical Education at Monash University. Richard reflects on the challenge of transitioning from reading kinesiology to reading Michel Foucault, discusses how Foucault provided him with a lens to understand pain and gender on the rugby pitch, and offers advice on the […]

In this episode we are joined by Erin Metz McDonnell, Kellogg Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame and author of the recently published Patchwork Leviathan: Pockets of Bureaucratic Effectiveness in Developing States. Erin introduces us to the “budgetary unit”–a powerful, but under-utilized Weberian term–and discusses how she expands Weber’s theorization of b...

Our guest today is Daniel Winchester, Associate Professor of Sociology at Purdue University. Dan tells us about his initial encounter with Pierre Bourdieu’s famously dense writings, his application of Bourdieu’s ideas in his Masters thesis on Islamic faith, and his more recent turn to the American Pragmatism to supplement his use of Bourdieu in studying […]

In this episode, Alysha Rios interviews Elliot Weininger, Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at SUNY Brockport, about Pierre Bourdieu. Elliot reflects on how Bourdieu offered a bridge between his philosophical interests and his quantitative training and explains how his interest in central concepts like cultural capital led to a series of collaborations […]

Our guest for this episode is Pirkko Markula, Professor of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta. Pirkko takes on the challenge of discussing both Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze in a single podcast. Pirkko explains how reading them together offers insight into embodied practices and reveals more ethical possibilities. Something that Pirkko […]

The guest for this episode is Anna Hickey-Moody, a Professor of Media and Communications at RMIT University and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Anna is also the author of the recently published Deleuze and Masculinity. In our conversation, Anna discusses both the challenges and charms of Gilles Deleuze and how she has built on […]

In this episode we are joined by Elise Paradis, Assistant Professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. Elise introduces us to the work of John Meyer and the value of neo institutional theory as an alternative to more functionalist or conflict-oriented perspectives. In particular, Elise demonstrates the importance of […]

In this episode we are joined by Stefano Bloch, Assistant Professor in the School of Geography & Development at the University of Arizona and author of Going All City: Struggle and Survival in LA’s Graffiti Subculture.  Stefano reflects on his initial encounters with the writings of Henri Lefebvre as an undergraduate literature major and discusses […]

In this episode we are joined by Clifton Evers. Clifton is a lecturer in media and cultural studies at Newcastle University and founding member of The Shadow Places Network. Clifton discusses how reading Raewyn Connell forced him to reflect on his own lived experience with and performances of masculinity and sent him down a research path that […]

In this episode we are joined by Tristan Bridges, editor of the Journal of Men and Masculinities and Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Bridges joins us to reflect on the influence Raewyn Connell has had on his understandings of masculinity and power from his initial encounters with her writings to […]

In this episode of Give Theory a Chance, we speak to Alex Manning, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Hamilton College. Alex explains how his work builds on and complicates Annette Lareau’s writings on class reproduction and parenting. In particular, Alex explains his own work on elite youth sport and a form of concerted cultivation employed […]

In this episode we speak to Stephen Cho Suh, an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs. Stephen explains how Edward Said’s writings on Orientalism shaped his research on the popularity of Korean American chefs in South Korea’s food and beverage industry. We also discuss […]

In this episode we are joined by Timothy Recuber, an assistant professor of sociology at Smith College and author of Consuming Catastrophe: Mass Culture in America’s Decade of Disaster. Recuber introduces us to the work Colin Campbell and discusses how he adapted Campbell’s concept of autonomous self-illusory hedonism for his research on media consumption of […]

In this episode we speak to Jaime Kucinskas, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Hamilton College and author of The Mindful Elite: Mobilizing from the Inside Out. Kucinskas explains how reading George Herbert Mead shifted her understanding of the self away from the individualistic model so popular in the United States towards seeing the self as […]

In this episode we are joined by Seth Abrutyn, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Abrutyn joins us to speak about his initial encounters with the writings of Emile Durkheim and how his current research on suicide was both inspired by and offers important correctives to Durkheim’s famous work. Abrutyn also […]

In this episode we speak to Jeffrey Montez de Oca an Associate Professor of Sociology and the founding director of the Center for the Critical Study of Sport at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Montez de Oca shares tales from his circuitous path to Marxism and reflects on how he came to realize that […]

In this episode we are joined by Douglas Hartmann, Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. We discuss how discovering C.L.R. James shaped Hartmann’s understandings of race and resistance. In particular, Hartmann reflects on how James memoir on cricket provides a valuable resource for understanding sports and politics.