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PODCAST · science

Give Theory A Chance

by The Society Pages

A podcast devoted to the foundational ideas that inspire thought and action.

Publisher-supplied feed metadata · PodParley refreshed Oct 17, 2026 · Source feed

Episodes

  1. katie gaddini on the christian women of the american right

    In this episode we are joined by Dr. Katie Gaddini, who is currently a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and an Associate Professor of Sociology at University College London (UCL). Katie is also a great example of public sociology. She is the co-host of Blessed & Stressed: Religion &...

  2. Sociological Life Lessons featuring Christopher Conner

    In this episode we are joined by Chris Conner, Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of Missouri-Columbia. Chris discusses his research on the electronic music scene and gay dating apps and life lessons that can be taken from the respective projects. *This conversation is part of the...

  3. Christopher R. Matthews on methods, theory, Simone Weil, and more

    In this episode we are joined once again by Dr. Christopher R. Matthews from the School of Science and Technology at Nottingham Trent University. In this wide-ranging conversation Christopher discusses the co-production of knowledge, radical honesty in the methods section, finding inspiration in...

  4. Alicia Walker and Arielle Kuperberg on Lessons from BDSM

    In this episode we are joined by Alicia M. Walker, Associate Professor of Sociology at Missouri State and Arielle Kuperberg, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Alicia and Arielle discuss their co-authored book Bound by BDSM: Unexpected Lessons in...

  5. Stefano Bloch on thinking about crime

    In this episode we are joined by Stefano Bloch, Associate 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 discusses and shares some lessons from his recently published article...

  6. Daniel Chambliss shares lessons from the Mundanity of Excellence

    Daniel Chambliss joins us to discuss The Mundanity of Excellence: An Ethnographic Report on the Stratification of Swimmers, first published in Sociological Theory in 1989. This episode is the debut of a new format in which guests share life lessons that can be taken from their favorite social...

  7. Seth Abrutyn reads Daniel Chambliss

    In this episode, Dr. Seth Abrutyn, Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia, co-author of Life under Pressure: The Social Roots of Youth Suicide and What to Do About Them, and 2024 winner of the Lewis A. Coser Award for Theoretical Agenda Setting returns to the podcast to...

  8. Rahsaan Mahadeo on Denise Ferreira da Silva

    In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Rahsaan Mahadeo, Assistant Professor in African American and African Studies at the University of Minnesota and author of Funk the Clock: Transgressing Time While Young, Perceptive, and Black. In our conversation, Rahsaan introduces us to the ideas of Denise...

  9. Jon Wynn on writing fiction

    In this episode we are joined by Jonathan Wynn, Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Jon joins us to discuss The Set Up, his debut work of fiction that both thrills and educates. Jon shares his experience writing a work of fiction, reflects on how theorists including...

  10. Daniel Silver on Talcott Parsons

    In this episode, Dr. Daniel Silver, Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Scarborough and author of Scenescapes: how qualities of place shape social life (2020), joins us to discuss and read from Talcott Parsons’ On Institutions and Social Evolution, edited by Leon H. Mayhew. In our...

  11. Neil McLaughlin on Erich Fromm

    In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Neil McLaughlin, Professor of Sociology at McMaster University and author of Erich Fromm and the Global Public Sociology (2023). In our conversation, Neil discusses the rise, fall, and potential resurgence of the writings of Erich Fromm. Neil reflects on the...

  12. Daniel Silver reads Georg Simmel

    In this episode, Dr. Daniel Silver, Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Scarborough and author of Scenescapes: how qualities of place shape social life (2020), joins us to discuss and read from Georg Simmel’s Sociology: Inquiries into the Construction of Social Forms (first...

  13. Andrea S. Boyles reads Patricia Hill Collins

    In this episode, guest hosted by Jabez Turner, Dr. Andrea S. Boyles, Associate Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at Tulane University joins us to read from Patricia Hill Collins’ Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment (1990). In addition, Dr....

  14. William Turner on W.E.B. Du Bois

    In this episode, Jabez Turner interviews Dr. William Turner, Assistant Professor of African & African-American Studies at SUNY Brockport, about W.E.B. Du Bois. Dr. Turner reflects on the importance of Du Bois in his own intellectual development, discusses the marginalization of Du Bois within...

  15. Christine Goding-Doty reads Aimé Césaire

    Dr. Christine Goding-Doty, Assistant Professor in Digital Media in the department of Culture and Media at the New School, introduces us to Aimé Césaire and reads from his foundational essay “Discourse on Colonialism” (1950). Follow along HERE. -Kyle-

  16. Amanda McMillan Lequieu on Yi-Fu Tuan

    In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Amanda McMillan Lequieu, Associate Professor of Sociology at Drexel University and author of Who We Are Is Where We Are: Making home in the American Rust Belt (2024). Amanda returns to the podcast to discuss foundational humanistic geographer Yi-Fu Tuan and…

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  17. Daniel Silver reads Adam Smith

    In this episode, Dr. Daniel Silver, Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Scarborough and author of Scenescapes: how qualities of place shape social life (2020), joins us to discuss Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776).

  18. Mary Peterson reads Iris Marion Young

    In this episode, we are joined by Mary Peterson, PhD student in philosophy at the University of Hamburg. Mary joins us for a guided reading of Iris Marion Young’s 1980 essay “Throwing like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body Comportment Motility and Spatiality.” Mary helps us understand...

  19. Jacqui Frost on Max Weber

    In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Jacqui Frost, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Purdue University and Faculty Research Fellow in the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice University and a Center Affiliate in the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at University of Notre Dame.…

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  20. Hannah McCann on Judith Butler

    In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Hannah McCann, Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne, author of Queering Femininity: Sexuality, Feminism and the Politics of Presentation, and co-author of Queer Theory Now (which we discussed on an earlier episode of the…

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  21. Ugo Corte on Gary Alan Fine

    In this episode we are joined by Ugo Corte, Professor of Sociology at the University of Stavanger, author of Dangerous Fun: The Social Lives of Big Wave Surfers (2022 University of Chicago Press), and winner of the 2023 Charles Horton Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic...

  22. Kelly Underman reads Lauren Berlant

    In this episode, Dr. Kelly Underman, Associate Professor in Sociology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and author of Feeling Medicine: How the Pelvic Exam Shapes Medical Training (2020), joins us to read from the first chapter of Lauren Berlant’s Cruel Optimism (2011). Follow...

  23. Kelly Underman on Lauren Berlant

    In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Kelly Underman, Associate Professor in Sociology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and author of Feeling Medicine: How the Pelvic Exam Shapes Medical Training (2020). In our conversation, Kelly introduces us to the work of Lauren Berlant,...

  24. Amanda McMillan Lequieu reads Kai Erikson

    In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Amanda McMillan Lequieu, Assistant Professor in Sociology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and author of the forthcoming book Who we are is where we are: Making home in the American Rust Belt. Amanda joins us to discuss Kai Erikson’s...

  25. Andrew McCumber reads Raymond Williams

    In this episode, Dr. Andrew McCumber joins us to discuss Raymond Williams’s ‘Ideas of Nature’ from Problems in Materialism and Culture (1980). Andy introduces us to Willams’s overview of our changing understanding of nature and the natural and why it matters. Andy also discusses the influence of...

  26. Christopher Matthews on Nick Crossley

    In this episode we are joined by Dr. Christopher R. Matthews; a social scientist and epistemologist who specializes in the use of immersive research to understand ideas, people and society. Chris is the author of Doing Immersive Research Vol.1: Using Social Science to Understand the Human World…

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  27. Christopher Matthews reads Nick Crossley

    In this companion episode, Dr. Christopher R. Matthews walks us through a series of excerpts from Nick Crossley’s Intersubjectivity: The Fabric of Social Becoming (1996). Chris also provides us with screenshots of his own copy of the book so we can follow along with the text and see Chris’s...

  28. Matthew Clair on W. E. B. Du Bois

    In this episode we are joined by Dr. Matthew Clair, an Assistant Professor of Sociology & Law at Stanford University. In our conversation, Matt introduces us to the work of W. E. B. Du Bois, discusses how Du Bois is one of the rare scholars who transcends sociology and the academy, and helps us...

  29. Michael DeLand reads Herbert Blumer

    In this episode, Dr. Michael DeLand, an Assistant Professor of Sociology & Criminology at Gonzaga University, joins us to read from Herbert Blumer’s article ‘Sociological Implications of the Thought of George Herbert Mead’ (1966). Mike walks us through Blumer’s reading of Mead and discusses how…

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  30. Michael DeLand on Herbert Blumer

    In this episode we are joined by Dr. Michael DeLand, an Assistant Professor of Sociology & Criminology at Gonzaga University. In our conversation, Mike introduces us to the work of Herbert Blumer and discusses how Blumer’s process-oriented theorizing of interaction and sense-making provide...

  31. Jennifer McClearen on Herman Gray

    In this episode we are joined by Dr. Jennifer McClearen, Assistant Professor of Sports, Media, and Culture in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the recently published Fighting Visibility: Sports Media and Female Athletes in the UFC.…

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  32. Elizaveta Lepikhova on Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann

    In this episode Elizaveta Lepikhova, a second year MA student, teaching assistant, and supplemental instructor of sociology at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, discusses the work of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. Elizaveta discusses their contributions to the sociology of everyday life,...

  33. Jonathan Wynn on Erving Goffman

    In this episode we are joined by Jonathan Wynn, Associate Professor and Department Chair of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and author of Music/City: American Festivals and Placemaking in Austin, Nashville, and Amherst. Jon introduces us to Erving Goffman, reflects on…

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  34. Fabio Rojas on Theory for the Working Sociologist

    In this episode, we are joined by Fabio Rojas, professor of sociology at Indiana University Bloomington and author of Theory for the Working Sociologist (2017). Fabio introduces his approach to teaching sociological theory, discusses the four theoretical moves made within the discipline, and…

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  35. Alex Channon on Stephen Lyng and Edgework

    In this episode we are joined by Dr Alex Channon, Senior Lecturer in the School of Sport and Service Management at the University of Brighton. Alex introduces us to Stephen Lyng and his theorization of edgework. Alex illustrates the value of the concept through discussing his research on sport,...

  36. Jocelyn Viterna on Teaching Our Ugly Roots

    In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Jocelyn Viterna, Professor of Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Harvard University. Jocelyn introduces her approach to teaching sociological theory in a way that is honest about our intellectual roots and engages with the centrality of social...

  37. Anna Goulding on Elinor Ostrom

    In this episode we are joined by Dr Anna Goulding, Senior Research Associate at Newcastle University, UK, and a scholar of art, identity, aging, and community. Anna introduces us to Elinor Ostrom, her theorization of co-production, and potential of the term to be weakened through popularization…

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  38. Shai Dromi reads Luc Boltanski

    In this episode, Dr. Shai Dromi, a lecturer of Sociology at Harvard University and author of Above the Fray: The Red Cross and the Making of the Humanitarian NGO Sector (2020), joins us to read from Luc Boltanski’s co-authored article ‘The Sociology of Critical Capacity‘ (1999). Shai introduces…

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  39. Shai Dromi on Luc Boltanski

    In this episode we are joined by Dr. Shai Dromi, a lecturer of Sociology at Harvard University and author of the recently published Above the Fray: The Red Cross and the Making of the Humanitarian NGO Sector (2020). In our conversation, Shai introduces us to the work of Luc Boltanski and…

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  40. Jeff Guhin on Charles Taylor

    In this episode we are joined by Jeff Guhin, an assistant professor of sociology at UCLA, and author of the recently published Agents of God: Boundaries and Authority in Muslim and Christian Schools. Jeff discusses the inspiration he finds in the works of Charles Taylor, reflects on the value and...

  41. Tina Sikka reads Helen Longino

    In this episode, Dr. Tina Sikka, a Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Newcastle University and author of Climate Technology, Gender, and Justice, joins us to read from Helen Longino‘s ‘Can There Be A Feminist Science’ (1987). Tina introduces us to Longino’s central question about what…

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  42. Neil Gong on Norbert Elias

    In this episode we are joined by Neil Gong. Neil is an assistant professor of sociology at UC San Diego, a member of the Michigan Society of Fellows, and winner of the 2020 American Sociological Association’s Junior Theorist of the Year award. In our conversation, Neil introduces the work of...

  43. Hannah McCann reads Sara Ahmed

    In this episode, Dr. Hannah McCann, a Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne and author of Queer Theory Now, joins us to read from Sara Ahmed‘s ‘Killing Joy: Feminism and the History of Happiness’ (2010). Hannah introduces us to Ahmed’s re-reading and re-conceptualization of...

  44. Anas Karzai on Friedrich Nietzsche

    In this episode we are joined by Anas Karzai, lecturer in the Department of Sociology and coordinator of the criminology program at Laurentian University. Anas joins us to speak about the subject of his book Nietzsche and Sociology: Prophet of Affirmation. We discuss why Friedrich Nietzsche has…

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  45. Shamus Khan reads Thomas Hobbes

    In this episode, Dr. Shamus Khan joins us to read from Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil, the 1651 Thomas Hobbes classic work of social theory. Shamus shares his advice on reading theory fast, helps us understand how Hobbes conceptualized…

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  46. Shamus Khan on Teaching the Canon

    In this episode, we are joined by Shamus Khan, professor in and chair of the sociology department at Columbia University. Shamus discusses his approach to teaching the sociological canon, the importance of focusing on moments of racist and colonial discourse as central to, rather than in spite…

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  47. Saida Grundy on W.E.B. Du Bois

    In this episode we are joined by Dr. Saida Grundy, Assistant Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies at Boston University and author of the forthcoming book Manhood Within the Margins: Promise, Peril and Paradox at the Historically Black College for Men. In our wide-ranging...

  48. Hannah McCann and Whitney Monaghan on Queer Theory

    Our guests today are Hannah McCann, a Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne and Whitney Monaghan, an Assistant Lecturer in Film and Screen Studies at Monash University. Hannah and Whitney are co-authors of the recently published textbook Queer Theory Now. In our wide-ranging...

  49. Angela Jones reads W.E.B. Du Bois

    In this episode, Dr. Angela Jones joins us to read from The Souls of Black Folk, the 1903 W.E.B Du Bois classic work of social theory. This is the first of a new type of Give Theory a Chance podcast where contemporary social theorists introduce us to the specific passages that inspired them and...

  50. Angela Jones on W.E.B. Du Bois

    In this episode we are joined by Dr. Angela Jones, Associate Professor of Sociology at Farmingdale State College, State University of New York and author of the recently published book Camming: Money, Power, and Pleasure in the Sex Work Industry. Angela discusses the importance of recognizing...

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

A podcast devoted to the foundational ideas that inspire thought and action.

HOSTED BY

The Society Pages

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Give Theory A Chance have?

Give Theory A Chance currently has 73 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is Give Theory A Chance about?

A podcast devoted to the foundational ideas that inspire thought and action.

How often does Give Theory A Chance release new episodes?

Give Theory A Chance has 73 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.

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You can listen to Give Theory A Chance on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts Give Theory A Chance?

Give Theory A Chance is created and hosted by The Society Pages.
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