Breaking free of prejudice and who deserves a bronze statue?

from Life Matters - Full program podcast · host Australian Broadcasting Corporation

For decades the thinking has been that bringing together people from different cultural or religious groups would be enough to effectively reduce prejudice in society. But new research from the University of Queensland says that method simply isn't working anymore. Staying prejudiced isn't an option if we want to live in a peaceful country. So how can we open the door of our echo chambers, and let other voices in? Dr Alexander O'Donnell is a research fellow at the Univeristy of Queensland's Institute of Social Science Research, Giridharan Sivaraman is the Race Discrimination Commissioner and Rabbi Zalman Kastel is the founder of Together for Humanity, an educational organisation that works to combat prejudice.In Victoria, plans are underway to memorialise former Premier Daniel Andrews with a bronze statue. Meanwhile, there's also a push to immortalise one of Melbourne's former local pollies, Darebin councillor Gaetano Greco. So who - if anyone, really - should get a statue in contemporary Australia? Clare McCracken is a Senior Lecturer at RMIT University's School of Art and Robert Hitchcock is a sculptor who has captured dozens of people in bronze. If you're a fan of 90s sitcoms, you'll know that the friendship depicted in the sitcom Friends isn't necessarily representative of real life. People in their mid to late-twenties, seemingly working very little, and spending every day and night, sitting around, drinking coffee and chatting with their mates. But contrary to this, many of us will finish school, then spend the next few years wondering where all our mates went. Dan Woodman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Melbourne, discusses why young adults are seemingly lonelier than older people.

What this episode covers

For decades the thinking has been that bringing together people from different cultural or religious groups would be enough to effectively reduce prejudice in society. But new research from the University of Queensland says that method simply isn't working anymore. Staying prejudiced isn't an option if we want to live in a peaceful country. So how can we open the door of our echo chambers, and let other voices in? Dr Alexander O'Donnell is a research fellow at the Univeristy of Queensland's Institute of Social Science Research, Giridharan Sivaraman is the Race Discrimination Commissioner and Rabbi Zalman Kastel is the founder of Together for Humanity, an educational organisation that works to combat prejudice. In Victoria, plans are underway to memorialise former Premier Daniel Andrews with a bronze statue. Meanwhile, there's also a push to immortalise one of Melbourne's former local pollies, Darebin councillor Gaetano Greco. So who - if anyone, really - should get a statue in contemporary Australia? Clare McCracken is a Senior Lecturer at RMIT University's School of Art and Robert Hitchcock is a sculptor who has captured dozens of people in bronze. If you're a fan of 90s sitcoms, you'll know that the friendship depicted in the sitcom Friends isn't necessarily representative of real life. People in their mid to late-twenties, seemingly working very little, and spending every day and night, sitting around, drinking coffee and chatting with their mates. But contrary to this, many of us will finish school, then spend the next few years wondering where all our mates went. Dan Woodman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Melbourne, discusses why young adults are seemingly lonelier than older people.