Society matters is a podcast from the School of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) at Aston University. Presented by journalist Steve Dyson, the podcast series explores some of the fascinating work of academics within the School on current issues facing society.
Society matters can be found on all major streaming platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify.
Series 4 episodes
- S4E7 - Swear words - and why we use them in day-to-day conversations
Dr Robbie Love, Lecturer in English Language at Aston University, suggests that schools could include teaching about swearing in lessons to help teenagers understand the differences between harmless cursing and deeply offensive slurs. Dr Love also discusses how swearing has been a part of the English language for centuries, and that swear words can be ‘cathartic’ in terms of easing pain or frustration.
Release date: Thursday 9 March 2023- S4E6 - From the cradle to the grave: how the NHS can survive
Dr Alexis Paton, a health expert at Aston University, discusses how years of austerity have left the NHS devalued and underfunded. She argues that swift investment and long-term, cross-party planning are now needed for survival, with a focus on training more staff and maintaining existing hospital infrastructures.
Release date: Tuesday 31 January 2023- S4E5 - Rishi Sunak: It matters that we have the UK’s first prime minister of Indian descent
Dr Parveen Akhtar, a senior lecturer and deputy head of politics, history and international relations at Aston University, discusses how the UK having its first non-white prime minister is a ‘big moment’. But she says his ability at restoring economic stability and tackling the cost-of-living crisis will decide his fate at the polls.
Release date: Wednesday 7 December 2022
- S4E4 - Managing emotions for a political purpose
Dr Ilaria Scaglia, a senior lecturer in modern history at Aston University, explains how the ‘history of emotions’ can provide vital lessons for politics today, particularly when studying the 1920s and 30s. She said that the past can guide society on how it decides to conduct itself now, as individuals and countries.
Release date: Wednesday 16 November 2022
- S4E3 - COP27: can protest change climate policy?
Dr Graeme Hayes, a reader in political sociology at Aston University, says protest through collective action can achieve meaningful climate change. But speaking ahead of the COP27 climate talks in Egypt, the expert in environmental activism argues that governments will only be persuaded to do the right thing if they face sustained movements, not one-off actions.
Release date: Wednesday 26 October 2022
- S4E2 - Back from the brink – again! Can North Korea relations be normalised?
Dr Virginie Grzelczyk, an expert on security in the Korean peninsula at Aston University, says that it's time for the West to acknowledge North Korea’s status as a nuclear power to help defuse escalating tensions.
Release date: Wednesday 21 September 2022
- S4E1 - Independence and violence: understanding 75 years of India’s partition
Dr Volker Prott, a senior lecturer in modern history at Aston University, discusses the “bitter irony” of “celebrating” the 75th anniversary of the partition of India, given the violence and huge displacement of people it caused. He argues the partition was part of a global pattern and that debate is now needed to find ways to accommodate human diversity rather than pulling people apart.
Release date: Wednesday 10 August 2022
Series 3 episodes
- S3E3 - Ukraine invasion could result in total collapse of Russia
Dr Anton Popov, a senior lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University, predicts that Russia could face economic collapse and civil war over its invasion of Ukraine. The Russian-born academic said his country was “sinking into a dark place" and could soon become a pariah state, somewhere like Iran or North Korea.
Release date: Thursday 31st March 2022
- S3E2 - Can protests in Russia stop the war in Ukraine?
Ernest A Reid, an expert in Russia protests at Aston University, takes part in our special series on the Ukraine war. He explains how anti-war protests are being stifled by a media blackout, which means many ordinary Russians don’t know how they feel about the invasion. Plus he says mass detentions with thousands of Russians locked up without charge has spread fear about joining protests.
Release date: Tuesday 22nd March 2022
- S3E1 - The madness behind Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Dr Elisabeth Schimpfössl, a senior lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University, and an expert on Russia, analyses fears of Putin’s ‘madness’ over the invasion of Ukraine. She also discusses speculation that only a “heart attack-style” assassination of the dictator by his senior military and secret services could stop him escalating the war.
Release date: Thursday 3rd March 2022
Series 2 episodes
- S2E6 - What Germany’s new government means for the UK, Europe and Russia
Dr Ed Turner, a reader in politics at Aston University, discusses how a Germany without stalwart former leader Angela Merkel faces a number of huge challenges – not least the threat of Russia invading Ukraine. He explains that new Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also grappling with Covid-19, Germany's 'crumbling' infrastructure and net-zero climate change targets, but just wants to 'move on' with the UK after Brexit.
Release date: Wednesday 9th February 2022
- S2E5 - Understanding refugee journeys
Dr Amanda Beattie, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Aston University, discusses how researching refugees' journeys across the Balkans resulted in an exhibition at Tate Liverpool that went worldwide. Now she's helping to launch a new Centre for Migration and Forced Displacement at Aston University to make sure what is a ‘humanitarian crisis’ remains an ‘important conversation’.
Release date: Wednesday 19th January 2022
- S2E4 - Nativity plays: religion in today’s multicultural society
Dr Céline Benoit, a senior teaching fellow in sociology and policy at Aston University, says school nativity plays have a secure future – because children love them, and they are more of a cultural than a religious performance. But her research indicates that schoolchildren need more of a say on the future of religious education.
Release date: Wednesday 8th December 2021
- S2E3 - How the critical analysis of English literature can tackle 'fake news'
Dr Abigail Boucher, a lecturer in English literature at Aston University’s School of Social Sciences and Humanities, reveals how students are taught to challenge the credibility of what they’re reading with detailed research and critical thinking skills.
Release date: Wednesday 17th November 2021
- S2E2 - The slave trade: Birmingham’s industrial links to this shameful history
Dr Joseph Yannielli, a lecturer in history at Aston University’s School of Social Sciences and Humanities, reveals how Birmingham's industrial pioneers were deeply linked to the slave trade. He also discusses the importance that digital archives play in our understanding of the personal and very human stories emanating from this shameful part of our history.
Release date: Wednesday 6th October 2021
- S2E1 - Overcoming local community language barriers during Covid-19
Sue Campbell, a teaching fellow in translation studies at Aston University, reveals there are more than 100 languages spoken in Birmingham schools, but that vital information about Covid-19 was only translated into 17 of them. Her research project has mapped the city's language clusters to assist the authorities and is now training 'translation champions' to help local communities.
Release date: Wednesday 8th September 2021
Series 1 episodes
- S1E8 - Disaster ethics: intervention policies for natural hazards
Dr Lauren Traczykowski, a senior lecturer in ethics at Aston University, discusses what obligations the international community has to intervene and assist when a state is unable or unwilling to help its own population in the aftermath of a natural hazard.
Release date: Wednesday 28th July 2021
- S1E7 - Why football fans' European Super League fury was no surprise
Dr Danny Fitzpatrick, a 'politics of sport' specialist in the Department of Politics, History and International Relations at Aston University, discusses how football fans’ fury over the European Super League was 30 years in the making. His research traces how fans’ activism has been growing since protests against the ‘breakaway’ Premier League in the 1990s.
Release date: Wednesday 2nd June 2021
- S1E6 -Tackling the inequalities of Covid-19
Dr Alexis Paton, a social epidemiology and sociology lecturer at Aston University's School of Social Sciences and Humanities, discusses how ethnic minorities and other groups have not been treated equitably during Covid-19. She argues that ethics could create more fairness when tackling future pandemics.
Release date: Wednesday 12th May 2021
- S1E5 - How storytelling is helping people with dementia
Dr Stephen Fay, a lecturer in Spanish at Aston University's School of Social Sciences and Humanities, describes how a new narrative therapy project carried out via Zoom in Latin America has improved the lives of people with dementia. He's hoping to spread the work to Cuba and bring it back to the West Midlands.
Release date: Wednesday 14th April 2021
- S1E4 - Live music: surviving Covid-19
Dr Patrycja Rozbicka, senior lecturer in politics and international relations at Aston University’s School of Social Sciences and Humanities, describes how the live music sector will survive, despite being devastated by the lockdowns resulting from Covid-19.
Release date: Wednesday 10th March 2021
- S1E3 - Online abuse: understanding what's offensive
Dr Tamineh Tayebi, a lecturer at the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, hopes her research into online abuse and why people are offended by certain words and phrases will help to combat digital hate crime and cyberbullying.
Release date: Wednesday 10th February 2021
- S1E2 - The superiority complex of super-rich Russians
Dr Elisabeth Schimpfössl, senior lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University’s School of Social Sciences and Humanities, discusses how her research found that many super-rich Russians often saw themselves as ‘biologically superior’.
Release date: Wednesday 27th January 2021
- S1E1 - Understanding the language used to report abuse
Dr Emma Richardson, research fellow in forensic linguistics at the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, discusses how her methodology initially used to study pub-talk is now helping police interviewers understand victims of sexual assault and call handlers to assist domestic abuse victims.
Release date: Wednesday 13th January 2021
