Tag Archives: Society and Culture

We spend the hour discussing corruption, particularly political corruption, its history, causes, costs to society and possible remedies.[ dur: 58mins. ]

Paul Heywood is Sir Francis Hill Professor of European Politics at the University of Nottingham in UK. He is the author of the Routledge Handbook of Political Corruption, and the co-editor of Debates of Corruption and Integrity: Perspectives from Europe and the US.
Susan Rose-Ackerman is Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. Her publications include, Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform, Corruption: A Study in Political Economy and Anti-Corruption Policy: Can International Actors Play a Constructive Role?
Bruce Buchan is Professor of Political Science at Griffith University in Australia. His publications include An Intellectual History of Political Corruption: From Antiquity to 1800 and The Empire of Political Thought: Indigenous Australians and the Language of Colonial Government.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Discoveries about x and y chromosomes -/- Celebrity Industrial Complex – May 28, 2017

May 28, 2017 host

First, scientific discoveries about x and y chromosomes are challenging what we know about what makes us male or female. [ dur: 16 mins. ]

Jeremy Nathans is Professor of molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience and ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His discoveries have changed our understanding of how humans see the world. link to Professor Jeremy Nathan’s lab
Melissa Wilson Sayres is Professor in the School of Life Sciences and The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. Her research interests are in sex chromosome evolution, sex-biased processes, population genetics, and comparative genomics. Melissa Wilson Sayres research papers

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, what is the celebrity industrial complex? How does it impact our democracies, our culture and society? [ dur: 43 mins. ]

Joshua Gamson is a Professor of Sociology at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, The Music, The Seventies in San Francisco, Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity and Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America.
David Gilles is a Professor in Media Psychology at the University of Winchester. He is the author of Psychology of the media, Media psychology and Illusions of immortality: A psychology of fame and celebrity.
P. David Marshall is a Professor and Chair in New Media, Communication and Cultural Studies at Deakin University, Australia. He is the author of Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture, New Media Cultures and The Celebrity Culture Reader.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – French Philosophy and CIA -/- Code Economy and Future of Work – April 2, 2017

April 1, 2017 host

Why were CIA agents reading French philosophy? [ dur: 22mins. ]

Gabriel Rockhill is a philosopher, cultural critic and political theorist. He is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Villanova University and Founding Director of the Critical Theory Workshop at the Sorbonne. He is the author of Counter-History of the Present: Untimely Interrogations into Globalization, Technology, Democracy, Interventions in Contemporary Thought: History, Politics, Aesthetics and Radical History and the Politics of Art.

What is the Code Economy and what does it have to do with the future of work. Some people argue that machines will take over jobs. But our guest argues that perhaps humanity will reinvent work in a way that’s more aligned with what it means to be human. [ dur: 36mins. ]

Philip Auerswald is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation. He is the author of The Code Economy: A Forty-Thousand Year History, The Coming Prosperity: How Entrepreneurs Are Transforming the Global Economy and he is the editor of Iraq, 1990-2006 3 Volume Set: A Diplomatic History Through Documents.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Melting glaciers and ice sheets -/- Insight into Addiction and it’s treatment – February 26, 2017

February 24, 2017 host

First, climate change, receding glaciers and melting ice sheets are causing the oceans to rise dramatically. What does that mean for the world’s coastal cities? [ dur: 15mins. ]

Andrea Dutton is a Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Florida. She is the co-author of Tropical Tales of Polar Ice:Evidence of Last Interglacial Polar Ice Sheet Retreat Recorded by Fossil Reefs of the Granitic Seychelles Island published in Quaternary Science Reviews.
Brian Fagan is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is the author of The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels, Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind and The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations

Then, on The Scholars’ Circle panel, science contradicts long held societal myths about addiction. What are the most effective means of addressing addiction? [ dur: 43mins. ]

Dr. Lance Dodes is a former Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of The Heart of Addiction: A New Approach to Understanding and Managing Alcoholism and Other Addictive Behaviors, Breaking Addiction: A 7-Step Handbook for Ending Any Addiction and The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry.
Dr. Jeffrey Foote is the Co-founder and Clinical Director of the Center For Motivation and Change. Previously, he was the Deputy Director of the Division of Alcohol Treatment and Research at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and a Senior Research Associate at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. He is the co-author of Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change.
Dr. Adi Jaffe is a lecturer at UCLA and the Co-Founder and Executive Director at Alternatives Addiction Treatment.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – American Football and Domestic Violence -/- Philosophy and Politics of Humor – January 1, 2017

December 31, 2016 host

Domestic violence is just one of the many problems of violent sports. We’ll take a close look at American Football and its discontents. We are joined by Steve Almond. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

Steve Almond is the author of Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, we look at the origins, philosophy and politics of humor. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

Amber Day is a Professor of Performance studies in English and Culture Studies Department at Bryant University. She is the author of Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate.
John Morreall is a Professor of Philosophy Department Chair at Religious Studies at William and Mary College. He is the co-author of Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor.
Peter McGraw is a Professor of Marketing and Psychology at University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the co-author of The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Bird Songs -/- New Form of Corporate Lawlessness – September 4, 2016

September 4, 2016 host

First, scientists have made fascinating discoveries on how animals communicate. Birdsongs are more than music; they are warnings of danger understood by many species. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

Erick Greene, Professor of Biological Sciences at University of Montana. He has published numerous papers in ornithology, the latest in collaboration with the Cornell labs of Ornithology

Then, companies like Uber, Google and AirBnb claim to be civil rights leaders, but they are introducing a new form of corporate lawlessness? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Media Studies at University of Virginia. Author of “The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry)“. His articles at Slate can be found here. He co-authored an opinion piece on Guardian UK newspaper with Frank Pasquale ( author of Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms that Control Money and Information (Harvard University Press, 2015) Uber and the lawlessness of ‘sharing economy’ corporates

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – National Psychology in Age of Excess -/- Treatment of Misdeeds among Leaders in our Society – August 7, 2016

August 6, 2016 host

America has entered an age of excess, according to our guest. Driven by a maddening quest for perfection, technology, deregulation, and a superficial and often inaccurate mass media, our national psychology has become narcissistic. That is leading to a culture of cheating, lying, and reckless behavior that crashed the economy and continues to wreck lives and the national fabric. We examine our national psychology with J.R. Slosar author of, “Culture of Excess: How America Lost Self Control and Why We Need to Redefine Success.” [ dur: 18 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Dr. Jay Slosar (JR Slosar) is a lecturer at Chapman Univeristy. He is the author of “Culture of Excess: How America Lost Self Control and Why We Need to Redefine Success.“

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, why some misdeeds become scandals and others don’t? Why is it that the same type of transgressions are treated differently at different times, and might this differential treatment affect our politics, policies and society? [ dur: 41 mins. ]

Robert Entman is Professor of Media and Public Affairs and Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University and the author of Scandal & Silence: Media Responses to Presidential Misconduct, Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion and US Foreign Policy, and The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America.
Brendan Nyhan is Professor of Government at Dartmouth College and co-author of All the President’s Spin: George W. Bush, the Media, and the Truth.
Sigurd Allern is a Professor at the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo. He is the author of Scandalous!: The Mediated Construction of Political Scandals in Four Nordic Countries.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle- Guns and the US Constitution – June 19, 2016

June 18, 2016 host

With the latest and most lethal shooting in America, we spend the hour analyzing how the second amendment came to be interpreted as a individuals’ right to bear arms, and how this change contrasts with other changes in constitutional interpretation, including the right for marriage equality and human rights protection. With speak with David Cole. His latest book is “Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law“. [ dur: 58 mins. ]

David Cole is Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law Center. He is an award winning author. His numerous publications include, The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable, Enemy Aliens: Double Standard and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism, and his latest, Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle- Reasons for unethical Foreign Policies -/- Earth Climate 2047 -/- Wars not in human nature – June 5, 2016

June 4, 2016 host

What drives destructive or unethical foreign policies? Some point to pathological beliefs and pursuits of exceptionalism, honor and glory. Others point to systemic flaws. What are the consequences? [ dur: 14 mins. ]

Christopher Fettweis is a Professor of Political Science at Tulane University. He is the author of The Pathologies of Power: Fear, Honor, Glory and Hubris in U.S. Foreign Policy, Dangerous Times? The International Politics of Great Power Peace and Losing Hurts Twice as Bad: The Four Stages to Moving Beyond Iraq.

Then, Professor Mora and his colleagues have calculated how climate change will affect our temperatures around the year 2047. In the future, they found, our coldest year will be warmer than the past hottest years. The changes, which will first occur in the tropics, are already driving some 25,000 species to extinction each year. [ dur: 15 mins. ]

Camilo Mora, Associates Professor of Geography at University of Hawaii, Minoa; News Release on the article

Finally, our panel argues that warring is a relatively new phenomenon in human societies and that human beings are not warlike by nature. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

Douglas P. Fry, is Director of Peace, Mediation & Conflict Research at Abo Akademi University, Finland. He is author of Beyond War : The Human Potential for Peace.
Darcia Narvaez, is Professor of Psychology at University of Minnesota. Co-author of Evolution, Early Experience and Human Development: From Research to Practice and Policy.
Brian Ferguson, is Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University. Co-author of War in the Tribal Zone: Expanding States and Indigenous Warfare.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Tag Archives: Society and Culture

Scholars’ Circle – Political Corruptions it’s history, causes, effects and remedies – June 11, 2017

Scholars’ Circle – French Philosophy and CIA -/- Code Economy and Future of Work – April 2, 2017

Scholars’ Circle – American Football and Domestic Violence -/- Philosophy and Politics of Humor – January 1, 2017

Scholars’ Circle – Bird Songs -/- New Form of Corporate Lawlessness – September 4, 2016

Scholars’ Circle – National Psychology in Age of Excess -/- Treatment of Misdeeds among Leaders in our Society – August 7, 2016

Scholars’ Circle- Guns and the US Constitution – June 19, 2016

Scholars’ Circle- Reasons for unethical Foreign Policies -/- Earth Climate 2047 -/- Wars not in human nature – June 5, 2016

By Maria Armoudian