The swimming pool
Thinking Allowed18 Juni 2024

The swimming pool

The swimming pool: Laurie Taylor explores its iconic role in our culture, as well as its unspoken rules, routines and rituals. Piotr Florczyk, forming swimming champion and Assistant Professor of Global Literary Studies at the University of Washington, considers the allure of an azure pool and its place in our cultural imagination, from the Hollywood movie, Sunset Boulevard, to David Hockney's pool paintings. He also asks 'who has access to the pool' and charts North America's shifting attitudes towards race and recreation which turned public bathing into an explosive issue, one leading to violence, segregation and the flight to white suburbia. What is the future of the pool given water shortages and climate change? Also, Susie Scott, Professor of Sociology at the University of Sussex analyses the unspoken social norms which govern swimmers behaviour, including a respect for personal space, a shared disapproval for the 'hairy torpedo' and the firm refusal to notice 'the elephant in the room' - the fact that we are nearly naked.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(586)

Ageing and Society

Ageing and Society

What does it mean to grow older in Britain today? Laurie Taylor explores the changing realities of later life, from health and independence to inequality and support.Professor Judith Phillips OBE, Pro...

7 Juli 27min

Charity Shops and Pocket Money

Charity Shops and Pocket Money

What does it really mean to give something away - or to buy something second-hand? And what, in the process, are we choosing not to see? Laurie Taylor talks to Gaby Harris, Sociologist and Lecturer in...

30 Juni 27min

Strikes, Solidarity and South Asian Britain

Strikes, Solidarity and South Asian Britain

How have South Asian communities in Britain fought for rights, dignity and belonging - and what can that history teach us today?Laurie Taylor explores the overlooked histories of labour struggle, resi...

23 Juni 28min

Rethinking Sociology: Empire, Knowledge and Connection

Rethinking Sociology: Empire, Knowledge and Connection

What happens when we tell the story of modern Britain as part of a much bigger, global history? Professor Kate Pickett OBE has recently been appointed as the UK's first-ever Professor for the Public ...

16 Juni 28min

Football and gambling

Football and gambling

As a new World Cup approaches, what does it mean that gambling now sits so close to the heart of football - and how far has the game travelled from its local roots?Laurie Taylor explores two distinct ...

9 Juni 27min

Ethics in sociological research

Ethics in sociological research

What does it mean to undertake "ethical" research in complex and changing social settings?Marion Vannier, from the University of Manchester, uses diaries and letters written by prisoners in her resear...

2 Juni 28min

Suicide, Society and Liveability

Suicide, Society and Liveability

What does Émile Durkheim’s 1897 study of suicide tell us about the social conditions that shape whether life feels worth living and how does a current project add to our understanding?Laurie Taylor is...

26 Maj 27min

Debt and Wealth Inequality

Debt and Wealth Inequality

What does an 18-month study of residents on a housing estate in southern England tell us about living with debt? Laurie Taylor talks to Ryan Davey from Cardiff University about his new book The Person...

10 Mars 28min

Populärt inom Vetenskap

p3-dystopia
dumma-manniskor
allt-du-velat-veta
hacka-livet
ufo-sverige
rss-kriminologerna
svd-nyhetsartiklar
bildningspodden
rss-vetenskapsradion
halsorevolutionen
det-morka-psyket
rss-vetenskapsradion-2
sexet
ufo-sverige-2
medicinvetarna
vetenskapsradion
barnpsykologerna
paranormalt-med-caroline-giertz
rss-odla
rss-ufobortom-rimligt-tvivel