Thinking Allowed

Every country in the Western world has abandoned the use of capital punishment in the name of civilisation and humanity. Yet in the USA, dozens of states and the Federal Government itself continue to execute criminals for certain crimes. Laurie Taylor talks to David Garland about his investigation into the US death penalty and how America has become a peculiar exception in a world which is moving towards abolition. They are joined by former Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken (Lord) MacDonald. Also on the programme David Whyte presents new research gathered from interviewing undocumented workers in Britain. Seven years on from the tragedy on Morecombe sands, what is the experience of illegal workers in the UK? Producer: Charlie Taylor.

Sexual Intercourse began in I963, according to Philip Larkin's 'Annus Mirabilis'. But what of the dark ages before the sexual revolution? A new study shows them to be not quite as repressed, unfulfilled and pitiable as many have been keen to cast them. In this edition Laurie talks to Kate Fisher and Simon Szreter about their illuminating exploration of intimate life in England between 1918 and 1963, which involved them speaking frankly and in depth to almost a hundred people about their sex lives in the period. Also, Charles Tripp talks about the relationship between Islam and capitalism, and some Muslim societies' reactions to what are seen as the dangers of a rapacious and socially destructive force. Producer: Charlie Taylor.

With a culture which equated health with beauty, Brazil has developed the biggest cosmetic surgery industry in the world. Public clinics often offer classic cosmetic procedures for free and 'La Plastica' is the realisable aim of people who can sometimes not afford the bus fair to make their consultation. How has plastic surgery become such an important part of the Brazilian culture and economy, and why is beauty seen as a 'right' for people who may not have electricity or running water. Laurie talks to Monica Figuero from Newcastle University and Alex Edmonds who's written on this subject. Also on the programme, Alan Dolan on how working class masculine culture in Britain puts men's health at risk. Producer: Charlie Taylor.

Britain and Ireland have always lagged far behind the rest of Western Europe in terms of second home ownership. But, MPs apart, there is a relentless upsurge in people owning more than one residence. In a new report Chris Parks has analysed the effect of the increase of home ownership on British and Irish society and compared it with other parts of the world. He discusses his findings with Susan Smith and Laurie Taylor. Also, Laurie talks to the writer Iain Sinclair about his examination of the culture of the urban cyclist. Producer: Charlie Taylor.

People have often referred to conflicts between the concepts we use to understand the best way to live - ideas like Liberty, Equality, Justice, Democracy. You need to suppress one to achieve the other, and this - the argument goes - proves that they are not universal moral concepts. In his engagingly titled new book, Justice for Hedgehogs, the US philosopher Ronald Dworkin seeks to show that there is no incompatibility between these ideas because they are part of a single unified value, they only appear to conflict because of the way we are looking at them. But how do we ascribe this value with a universal role without recourse to God, or some other metaphysical entity? Laurie discusses the idea with Ronald Dworkin and AC Grayling. Also, shinning up the greasy pole: Bill Jones talks about his essay on how Prime Ministers pick their ministers and how to get ahead in politics. Producer: Charlie Taylor.

Committing crime in West Belfast carries a double jeopardy. As well as the police, there are the paramilitaries to look out for. Between 1973 and 2007 there were two and a half thousand shootings and beatings attributed to republican paramilitaries as punishment attacks. Young people have been 'tarred and feathered', had their legs broken, hundreds have been 'knee-capped' and a few have been 'executed' - i.e. murdered - in response to what they are assumed to have done. For three years at the height of this practice Heather Hamill lived and worked in the Catholic Community of West Belfast to research the pseudo-judicial process administered by the IRA. As punishment attacks are growing again, this time at the hands of dissident republican groups, she discusses paramilitary punishment attacks with Laurie and the criminologist Dick Hobbs. Also on the programme today, Hanna Zagefka discusses her report which shows why people give more money to natural disasters like the Asian Tsunami than human ones like the cri

Many of our global problems - from climate change to terrorism - require international not local solutions. Yet the world is increasingly fractured by nationalism. The political scientist, David Held, has a new book which explores cosmopolitan values. He tells Laurie Taylor why we should regard ourselves as citizens of the world rather than members of nations. Also, should we take responsibility for our own health, bodies and nutrition? Steven Shapin, Professor of the History of Science, talks about Dietetics - a branch of traditional western medicine which sought to prevent illness rather than find a cure. Originating in the 2nd century it held that good health reflected a virtuous life. This moral approach to the body died out with the advent of modern science but may now be enjoying a revival. Producer: Jayne Egerton.

The Daleks are obsessed with racial purity and dedicated to a policy of genocide: they represent the Nazis. The Jagrafess is a loathsome alien purveying useless information - which he has censored, rewritten and controlled: he represents a modern day media mogul. This is the theory of the US academic Marc Edward DiPaolo who has analysed the political content of five decades of Doctor Who. He finds that the Time Lord is a liberal, bohemian, pacifist environmentalist, and definitely anti-American. Is Doctor Who a closet radical? Laurie and Marc discuss the contention with journalist, broadcaster and some-time Dr Who script-writer Matthew Sweet. Also on the programme: Softening Masculinities. New research by Mark McCormac finds that British secondary school boys are far less restrictive in their behaviour than they used to be. It is okay to use conditioner, comment on someone's clothes, and even give each other a hug.

Laurie Taylor talks to Professor Russell Jacoby, Professor Ash Amin, Professor Barbara Graziosi and The Bishop of Whitby, Martin Warner, about whether we can imagine 'utopia' in the 21st century. In an age that some describe as filled with anxiety and uncertainty, are we breeding a kind of fatalism towards the future that excludes any notion of utopia? How indeed might we define and describe utopia? Can utopian ideas be not only practical and pragmatic but also democratic? When considering utopia where does religious faith and thinking intertwine with the secular world? Can we even talk about commonly held utopian ideals or are we condemned to imagine utopia only as fantasy, as an intellectual or artistic excerise that is, ultimately, futile.producer. Chris Wilson.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, children gathered beneath a sparking tree, a table groaning with turkey.....the cliches of the season are as alive and well as they were in Dickens time. But does everybody have equal access to the bounty of Christmas and the good will of others? The geographer, Steve Millington, finds that the distaste some middle class people feel for 'excessive' displays of xmas lights in working class areas reveals a narrative of class hostility which echoes Victorian attitudes to the 'undeserving' poor. He joins Laurie Taylor, the sociologist Bev Skeggs and the historian Julie Marie Strange to explore Christmas, compassion and class, then and now. Producer: Jayne Egerton.

When Jack Johnson became heavy-weight champion of the world and then knocked out the 'Great White Hope' Jim Jeffries in 1910, riots and celebrations broke out throughout the United States. Black people had a champion who stood as the finest man in the world, and many white people saw that as an image which threatened their supremacy. In sporting terms the image of the black athlete was forged, a hyper-masculine individual characterised by aggression and defined by physicality. Laurie is joined by Ben Carrington, author of Race, Sport and Politics, and the sociologist Brett St Louis to discuss the complex history of that stereotype. An image which has been both to the benefit and also to the great detriment of black people. Also on the programme, Stuart Hallifax discusses why it was that people said that the First World War would be over by Christmas and whether they truly believed it. Producer: Charlie Taylor.

With the huge investment needed and patents which have the potential to generate a lot of money, biochemistry is perhaps the most capitalistic strain of science. How did Cuba - a socialist, embargoed, isolated, developing world country - manage to become one of the world's leaders in genetic modification and bioscience? Laurie talks to Simon Reid Henry, Lecturer in Geography at Queen Mary London about his new book The Cuban Cure; Reason and Resistance in Global Science. Also on the programme - 'moral panics'. The phrase was first defined by Stan Cohen in an analysis of the reaction to Mods and Rockers fighting on Britain's beaches. Since then it has been used many times by social scientists to describe media reaction to everything from dangerous dogs to binge drinking, but how useful is the term? Does it falsely imply that there is no underlying reason for social concern? Laurie discusses the uses and abuses of the notion of moral panic with Chas Critcher, Emeritus Professor of Communications at Sheffield Hal

Professor Laurie Taylor explores the connections between politics and business with economist Mara Faccio, who talks about her new research into the subject. Laurie also talks to criminologist Judith Aldridge and discusses her research about how territory influences youth gangs. They are joined by Peter Squires from Brighton University.Producer: Chris Wilson.

Laurie Taylor talks to Professor Harvey Molotch from New York University about his book examining public conveniences from a sociological, architectural and town planning perspective. Laurie also discusses the idea of a 'civic core'- who volunteers in their community and how? - and talks to Professor John Mohan about his research paper exploring volunteerism. They are joined by Professor Su Maddock.Producer Chris Wilson.

Laurie Taylor talks to Pulitzer Prize winner C.J Chivers, a former US Marine and currently a journalist at the New York Times about the cultural, social and political impact of the AK-47 or Kalashnikov. A gun that has transformed how we fight wars and who can fight them, the AK-47 is a weapon central to many conflicts all over the world. With testimony from its inventors, its users and its victims, Laurie explores how a single instrument can have been so influential as both transformer and destroyer. They are joined by military historian Richard Holmes. Laurie also talks to Philip Smith, Professor in the Department of Sociology at Yale University, about new research looking at public incivility. What drives some people to such extremes of public rudeness?Producer Chris Wilson.

Laurie Taylor talks to Cambridge sociologist Professor John Thompson about his book 'Merchants of Culture' which approaches the US/UK publishing trade from an anthropological point of view. Laurie also talks to MP Jesse Norman and author Dan Hind about Dan's new book The Return of the Public arguing for more active citizenship. Producer: Chris Wilson.

Laurie Taylor explores the growth of high security prisons in America alongside the increased use of solitary confinement with criminologist Dr Sharon Shalev whose book 'Supermax' examines both topics. Laurie's second discussion is with Professor Ian Morris whose major new book 'Why The West Rules- For Now' examines the rise and fall and rise of Eastern and Western societies and asks whether it's possible for historians to predict the future with any confidence.Producer: Chris Wilson.

Was there ever a golden age of the family? Political debates about the family often invoke a norm of family life in which marriages lasted and children thrived. But a new report suggests that pre-marital sex, cohabitation, single parenthood and illegitimacy have been rife for two centuries. It's the post war period from 1945-1970 which is unusual for its high rates of enduring marriages. Many people in the past didn't ever marry because of the problems in obtaining or affording a divorce. The historian Professor Pat Thane discusses families, real and ideal, with Laurie Taylor. Also, are most scientific claims little more than delusions? The Professor of Information Systems, Ian Angell talks about his co-authored book 'Science's First Mistake' which critiques science's claims to 'truth'. Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Laurie Taylor examines some new research about homophobia and football and talks to Professor Ellis Cashmore from Staffordshire University about how fans, players and management respond to the issue. They're joined by writer and broadcaster David Goldblatt who has a strong interest in sport.Laurie also discusses the growth of global higher education and talks to Ben Wildavsky whose new book charts the development of academic migration across the world- looking at the cross border movement of students, academics, faculties and the development of new universities in places like China, Asia and The Middle East.Producer Chris Wilson.

Laurie Taylor asks whether migrants who move to another country for economic reasons are likely to increase their levels of happiness with higher incomes. Using the USA as a focus for his research, Dr David Bartram from Leicester University uncovers evidence that casts doubt on this assertion and he's joined by Bristol University researcher Dr Michaela Benson who has written widely about migration and happiness.Laurie's second topic for discussion is 'being paid to be happy'. Rachel Cohen is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick and her research paper "When it pays to be friendly: Employment Relationships and Emotional Labour in Hairstyling" is discussed by Laurie and by writer Michael Bywater, who explores the broader notion of being paid to be friendly. Producer. Chris Wilson.