This week we sat down with Dr. Mary Kate Blake, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology from Valparaiso University, for a rundown of sociology of education. What is the sociology of education? How is education a structural component of...
Welcome to senior year! It's Fall 2020 and we are off to a great start with part 3 of our "You're all sociologists!" series. For this premiere episode, we catch up on what the gang has been up to after summer vacation and we discuss how to take...
We have another throwback episode for you, and this time it's about crime! Sociologists are good at mythbusting-- social mythbusting that is! Our first topic to bust: Crime. Citizens of any society have preconceived notions of crime, and these ideas...
We have another rerelease for you this week! Love-- something we need more of nowadays-- is the topic of this week's episode! So let's explore what happens in our brains when we are struck with love, how sociologists like Charles Cooley and Theodore...
Since we're on summer vacay, we're releasing some of our favorite episodes. So, here's one of Ellen's faves: Looking back at its historical origins, the social breakdown crew talks about liberalism and its manifestations in our contemporary world....
Penn and Ellen are avid fans of Bon Appetit’s YouTube channel. ‘Gourmet Makes,’ ‘Back to Back Chef,’ that one where Chris recreates dishes blind- folded-- WE LOVE THEM ALL. But at the start of June, shocking inequality at Bon Appetit was...
We’re continuing our #BlackLivesMatter miniseries and exploring what it means when people demand that we defund the police. Annually the U.S. spends around $115 billion on police departments-- an amount that has tripled over the past 40 years. So...
For our miniseries on #BlackLivesMatter we were planning on doing an episode on tools of resistance-- the ways organizers act to create social change. But then we were like, "Wait a minute! We already have an episode on that!" So, we are re-releasing...
The #BlackLivesMatter social movement has been gaining momentum after the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota on May 25, and protests have been seen around the world and in every state in the U.S. We here at the Social Breakdown have been trying to...
There’s a lotta roles grad students play in the university, and one of them is being a teacher. So, we have a PhD’s Guide to Teaching today to help all of you newbies prepare for teaching in higher education. How do you format an in- person class...
Politics, politics, politics-- what a fascinating part of our society that feels all-consuming sometimes. This week we’re going to explore politics using a Symbolic Interactionist lens and the fantastic work of Dr. Murray Edelman to make sense of...
Sociology is obviously concerned about connecting private troubles to public issues, as C. Wright Mills once said. Sociologists are also deeply interested in the relationships between people, and the intimate relationships we have with family members....
Medical error-- defined as unintended or failed plan of actions related to treatments-- is an understudied in medical sociology. Patient harm from medical error can occur at the individual and systemic level however, and it might shock you to learn...
We're starting a new mini-series on our podcast called "(Don't) Ask a Sociologist"! We'll be answering questions from our listeners in ways probably more complicated than necessary, because we're sociologists, after all. This week's question - what...
We’re building off of last week’s episode on pop culture today with a deep dive into film analysis with a special guest, Prof. Brian Brutlag from The Sociologist’s Dojo! Brian talks with us about two seemingly unconnected concepts-- Zen Buddhism...
We’re getting light-hearted in these crazy times and introducing you to the sociology of pop culture! In this episode, we use Dr. David Grazian’s work to explore what popular culture is and how it’s different from high culture. Then we make...
COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is rapidly developing around the world and so are our thoughts, emotions, and of course, our sociological perspectives! We have an unplanned, talk story episode on this topic for you today. Join us as we try to put the hysteria...
Have you ever taken a class and been forced to buy a $100 textbook? Have you ever been a teacher and was forced to assign a $100 textbook? It’s difficult to manage for both sides but don’t sweat it - we have the perfect PhD’s Guide to BOOK$ for...
“If you wanna be my lover, you have got to--” listen to this breakaway episode! Today, Penn and Ellen get together to talk about all things girl power, from the #Girlboss movement to feuds between celebrity women (which scream, “Georg Simmel’s...
It’s almost the most romantic day of the year - good ol’ V-Day. While the gang has looked at family and romantic relationships from a sociological perspective, we’re taking an inner deep dive into ourselves this week with a PhD’s Guide to...