The Sociology of Everything Podcast
The Sociology of Everything Podcast offers a comedic and accessible look at the wonders of sociology. It is created and hosted by sociologists Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss from Adelaide University. The podcast aims to make sociology engaging and relatable to a broad audience. It has been described as 'a model for public sociology in the podcast era'.
Episodes
Georg Simmel's The Metropolis and Mental Life
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss introduce listeners to a noteworthy work in early classical sociology that often gets oversimplified for what it argues and observes about a key aspect of the process of modernisation. Georg Simmel’s noted essay on The Metropolis and Mental Life, originally published in 1903, provides varied insights about what effect living in an urban/metropolitan envi
The Gaza Genocide in Five Crises (ft. Ernesto Verdeja) - Gaza, Genocide, & Social Theory (2 of 2)
In the second part of their series on Gaza, Genocide, and Social Theory, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss welcome Ernesto Verdeja onto their podcast to talk around an article Ernesto has written in the Journal of Genocide Research, titled ‘The Gaza Genocide in Five Crises’. In this wide-ranging discussion, Ernesto makes some very powerful points about why it is meaningful and apt to categorise the recen
Bradley Campbell’s Genocide as Social Control - Gaza, Genocide, & Social Theory (1 of 2)
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss look to social theory to try to make better sense of the tremendous loss of life in Gaza since October 2023. They appeal to an article written by Bradley Campbell, titled ‘Genocide and Social Control’, which was published in 2009 in Sociological Theory. If indeed developments in Gaza constitute a genocide, as bodies like the International Association of
Donald MacKenzie & Judy Wajcman's Social Shaping of Technology (ft. Judy Wajcman)
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss celebrate their podcast reaching a quarter million downloads by spotlighting a work that has significantly developed the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS): Donald Mackenzie and Judy Wajcman’s influential introductory chapter in their anthology on The Social Shaping of Technology, first published in 1985, and later updated in 1999. This text d
Illumonating Severance Through Classical Sociology
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss take the elevator to the severed floor of where they work so that their innies can talk about the sociological aspects of a television show they both really like, Apple TV+'s Severance. Partly drawing from a chapter written by Palmer and Schueths in the edited volume, Reintegrating Severance, Eric and Louis explore how ideas found in classical socio
Peter Conrad's Medicalization of Society
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss spotlight the sociological concept of medicalization and Peter Conrad’s influential understanding of this idea, as captured in Conrad’s chapter in Medical Sociology on the Move. Eric and Louis’s coverage of Conrad’s account of medicalization perhaps unsurprisingly leads them to talk about some pretty weird topics. These include Tucker Carlson’s interest
Raewyn Connell & James Messerschmidt's Rethinking Hegemonic Masculinity
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss launch the fourth season of their podcast by examining a concept that sociologists continue to engage with to produce insightful understandings of how social life is gendered. They use Connell and Messerschmidt's article in Gender & Society and an earlier piece by Connell in Teachers College Record to explore how the concept of hegemonic masculi
Who speaks for the Earth? The Anthropocene and Sociology
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss have a discussion about the idea of the Anthropocene, a concept that was originally developed within the field of Geology. Despite it not being formally recognised as a defined geological period in 2024 by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, the Anthropocene continues to feature in various discussions across different fields and sectors of soci
Louis Everuss's Digital Mobilities and Smart Borders
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss shamelessly self-promote Louis’s monograph, Digital Mobilities and Smart Borders: How Digital Technologies Transform Migration and Sovereign Borders (2024), published by DeGruyter. They want listeners to know that there is a special 20% off discount code they can use, ‘DGBMOBILITIES’, if they want to purchase this work through the following link: https:/
Arlie Hochschild's Sociology and Donald Trump
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss mark their 10,000th follower on Spotify by giving the people what they want, which apparently means exploring a prominent sociological account of the (perplexing) appeal of Donald Trump. By focusing on an essay by the noted American sociologist, Arlie Hochschild, published in 2016 in Contemporary Sociology, they discuss how sociological analysis of emoti
Ning Wang's Rethinking Authenticity in Tourism
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss discuss what it means to be 'authentic' in the context of tourism. By examining the work of Ning Wang, they consider how authenticity in tourism research can be conceptualised in a number of different ways. One of these ways leads Louis to recount a time Eric ruined a sightseeing excursion they once went on. Louis also explains in this episode
Anthony Giddens's Consequences of Modernity
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss do their best to have a reflexive discussion about a highly influential sociological account of the contemporary modern world: Anthony Giddens's idea of reflexive modernization, as captured in his work, The Consequences of Modernity. Eric somehow manages to use his bad Trump impression to promote the field of sociology, while Louis tries to keep the
Karl Marx's Alienated Labour
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss launch the third season of their podcast by unpacking one of Karl Marx's most resonant and influential ideas in the field of sociology, his theory of estranged/alienated labour. Eric somehow manages to call Marx an 'emo' in this episode, while Louis admits that his ideal work situation is to play video games and travel a lot.Music and soun
The Social Model of Disability (ft. Caroline Ellison)
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss look to unpack a chapter in the Disability Studies Reader by the noted disability researcher, Tom Shakespeare. This work considers considers the strengths and limitations of the social model of disability, which powerfully conceptualises disability as a socially constructed phenomenon. In the second half of the episode, Eric and Louis welcome onto the
Zygmunt Bauman's Wasted Lives
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss have a discussion about Zygmunt Bauman's noted work, Wasted Lives (2003), which explores how the process of modernisation inevitably produces waste. In discussing what it means to live in a disposable society, Eric and Louis imagine what it must have been like to have once worked in a fax machine factory. Listeners wanting to send Eric and Louis a
Hartmut Rosa's Social Acceleration Theory
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss take time out of their somewhat busy schedules to talk about Hartmut Rosa's noted theory of 'social acceleration'. Rosa's (2003) article in the journal, Constellations, helps us make better sense of what it means to live in a high-speed society. Eric at one point in this episode recounts the time he gave a (hurried) presentation to Bo
Immanuel Wallerstein's World-Systems Theory (ft. Charles Lemert)
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss explore Immanuel Wallerstein's influential and innovative approach to theorizing inequalities at a global level, which regards capitalism as a 'world-system' that is directly linked with colonialism. They also welcome onto the program a guest who you can either thank or blame for Eric having an academic career in sociology, Emeritus Profes
Justin Rosenberg's the Follies of Globalization Theory
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss entertain the possibility that one of the previous episodes they did wasted everyone's time. They have a chat about Justin Rosenberg's polemical argument that scholars are paying too much attention to the concept of globalization. Not only is it being used in theoretically problematic ways, perhaps it actually does not say all that much. Eric a
Ulrich Beck's Risk Society
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss examine a sociological theory that some scholars believe is vital to understanding the social implications of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the hazards posed by anthropogenic global climate change: Ulrich Beck's noted theory of 'risk society'. Eric asks Louis in this episode if 'danger' is his middle name and Louis thinks th
Louise Amoore's Biometric Borders
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss discuss how biometric technologies and cultures are transforming how borders are constituted and being experienced in the contemporary era. The text their discussion revolves around is Louise Amoore's (2006) article in Political Geography, titled, 'Biometric borders: Governing mobilities in the war on terror'. Eric and Louis talk at varyin
Emile Durkheim's Division of Labour in Society
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss pay yet another visit to their dear friend, Emile Durkheim. They have a chat about his noted work, the Division of Labour in Society, which advances thought-provoking ideas of how social order is maintained in the modern world. Eric laments something about this episode. He wishes he could have slipped in the line, 'if you can't beet them, join
The Great Globalization Debate
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss discuss how some sociologists have come to theorize the phenomenon of globalization. They do so by examining what’s come to be known as the ‘Great Globalization Debate’, as described by David Held et al.’s highly influential work, Global Transformations. Eric and Louis believe fans of the cult television show, the Sopranos, will especially enjoy this epi
David Beer's Power through the Algorithm
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss look to unpack David Beer's article in New Media & Society, titled, 'Power through the Algorithm'. Beer's work theorizes how algorithmically driven media technologies affect our experience of social life and how power might be expressed in distinctive ways in the contemporary era. At one point in this episode, Louis demonstrates t
Matthew Desmond & Mustafa Emirbayer's What is Racial Domination?
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss explore sociological understandings of race by examining Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer's article on 'What is Racial Domination? ' in the Du Bois Review. Desmond and Emirbayer articulate how race structures and affects people’s experience and they theorize how race informs power relations. To explain a particular way sociologists ha
Shoshana Zuboff's Surveillance Capitalism
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss have an in-depth chat about Shoshana's Zuboff's theory of 'surveillance capitalism', which postulates the existence of a new variant of capitalism that significantly involves the digital monitoring of people's behaviours. Eric and Louis mainly base their discussion on Zuboff's 2015 article in the Journal of Information Techn
George Ritzer & Nathan Jurgenson's the Rise of Prosumer Capitalism
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss consider George Ritzer and Nathan Jurgenson's theory of prosumer capitalism as articulated in their article in the Journal of Consumer Culture. Ritzer and Jurgenson investigate how there might be something novel and unique about prosumption in the digital world, which signals a shift in the way capitalism operates. Louis lets everyone know in this e
Linsey McGoey's Philanthrocapitalism and its Critics
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss examine the concept of 'philanthrocapitalism' by considering a sociological critique of it by Linsey McGoey in Poetics. Philanthrocapitalism is a portmanteau of philanthropy and capitalism and it describes how the these two phenomena are thought to be increasingly linked to good effect in the contemporary era. McGoey provides us with an interes
The Ambiguous Legacy of Kuhn in Sociology
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss discuss the ambiguous legacy of Thomas Kuhn's work in the field of sociology by unpacking an article by Zaheer Baber in the Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society. Some sociologists have used Kuhn's concepts to advance a social constructionist view of science. But Baber cautions us from wholly embracing this interpretation of Kuhn's
Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss discuss Thomas Kuhn's noted work, the Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Kuhn puts forward a provocative theory of how scientific knowledge develops. While Eric and Louis ditch their old cheaply assembled recording setup for new microphones and an upgraded soundmixer, they try to preserve the essence of their sociology podcast by laughing too har
Patricia Hill Collins's Black Feminist Thought (ft. Frances Wyld)
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss have an introductory conversation about Patricia Hill Collins's work, Black Feminist Thought, which makes a notable contribution to standpoint theory. Through concepts like the' matrix of domination' and the 'interlocking nature of oppression', Collins sensitizes readers to the importance of considering other social variables, in
Dorothy Smith's Feminist Standpoint Theory
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss examine Dorothy Smith's account of feminist standpoint theory. Smith's work problematizes the view that sociological forms of knowledge are uncritically objective, preferring instead to highlight the ways in which knowledge is situated and unevenly produced. At one point of the episode, Eric and Louis confuse 'entomology', the study o
Michel Foucault's Disciplinary Society (ft. Katrina Jaworski)
In this episode. Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss examine some key ideas from Michel Foucault's text, Discipline and Punish, which provides an innovative account of how power has come to be covertly expressed in the modern world. To illustrate one of Foucault's ideas, Louis admits that he occasionally watches silly Youtube clips at work when he thinks no one is watching him.Our guest this wee
Michel Foucault's Power/Knowledge
In this episode. Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss have a conversation about Michel Foucault’s unique theoretical understanding of power, which tries to unsettle how it is normally thought about. Eric and Louis explore how Foucault’s account of power highlights how it can be subtly expressed and how it can emanate from a multitude of different points.Music and sound effects for this episode come from var
Emile Durkheim's Theory of Suicide
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss discuss Emile Durkheim's sociological study of suicide. In a conversation about a somber topic, Eric somehow manages to slip in a bad impersonation of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Louis does not follow suit and bizarrely refrains from performing impressions of any ageing Hollywood action stars.Music and sound effects for this episode come from various sou
Emile Durkheim's Social Facts
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss unpack one of Emile Durkheim's most important contributions to the field of sociology, his concept of 'social facts'. This leads Eric and Louis to talk about a lot bizarre topics. Eric goes on a mini-rant about how he disapproves of people who lie on their beds with their shoes on. And Louis wants everyone to know that his marriage to wife
Paul du Gay's In Praise of Bureaucracy
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss explore whether or not bureaucracies unfairly get a bum rap in sociology. This leads them to discuss Paul du Gay's thoughtprovoking argument about the virtues of bureaucracies in the contemporary modern world. Louis gets the opportunity in this episode to talk passionately about Australian politics, which normally makes him a very popular person to
Max Weber's Bureaucracy
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss examine Max Weber's theory of bureaucracy. They discuss why it continues to have resonance in the 21st century and totally unprompted by anything or anyone and without a hint of sarcasm, they ponder if they might be the best sociology instructors in the entire world.Music and sound effects for this episode comes from various sources and is licensed
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels' The Communist Manifesto
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss discuss one of the most noteworthy texts in classical sociology, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' The Communist Manifesto. Eric somehow manages to slip in two awful impersonations of Gordon Ramsay.Music for this episode comes from various sources and is licensed under the Creative Commons 0 License/the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 or is
Zygmunt Bauman's Thinking Sociologically
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss delve into Zygmunt Bauman's erudite account of sociology. They explore Bauman's fascinating argument that sociology should not be simply equated with common sense. Eric does more than one bad impression of Donald Trump in this episode.Music and sound effects for this episode comes from various sources and is licensed under the Creative Commons
C. Wright Mills's The Sociological Imagination (ft. Paula Geldens)
In this episode, Eric Hsu and Louis Everuss explore the introductory chapter of C Wright Mills's influential text, the Sociological Imagination.Our guest this week is Professor Paula Geldens, Executive Dean of the Justice & Society Unit at the University of South Australia (UniSA).Music and sound effects for this episode comes from various sources and is licensed under the Creative Common
