Wednesday 16:00-16:30 Laurie Taylor discusses the latest social science research.
19 September 2007 repeat 23 September
HOWARD BECKER (Sociologist) Howard Becker is one of our most influential and provocative social scientists. A one-time successful jazz musician, he abandoned that career for graduate work at the University of Chicago, where he was not only influenced by some of the brilliant ethnographers of urban life who helped to create the so-called Chicago school, but by his contemporary Erving Goffman.
Howard Becker’s 1963 book, Outsiders, became a staple for sociology undergraduates, and explored commonly held assumptions about unconventional individuals and their position in' normal' society.
ARAB CONQUESTS and SOCIAL MEMORY The Arab conquests following the death of Mohammed changed the world for ever. The old world order of fading Greek and Roman civilisations was brought to an end and by 641 Islamic Arab armies had conquered Syria, Egypt, Palestine and Iraq, by 700 all of North Africa, and by 720 all of Spain, Pakistan and much of Central Asia too.
Laurie Taylor discusses the old Arab stories about that extraordinary period; how accurate are they, and what do they tell us about how society reflects on itself? He is joined by the historian Hugh Kennedy and the writer, broadcaster and cultural critic Ziauddin Sardar to discuss the Arab foundation stories and the role they play in the history of a culture.
This week’s guests:
Hugh Kennedy Professor of Arabic at the School of Oriental and African Studies (since September 2007).
The Great Arab Conquests. How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN-10: 0297846574 ISBN-13: 978-0297846574
Ziauddin Sardar Professor of Science and Technology Policy at Middlesex University; Consulting Editor of the magazine Futures, Director, ISF Productions Limited, writer, broadcaster and cultural critic.
Howard Becker taught in Sociology Departments at Northwestern University, the University of Washington, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. The majority of his research was in fields including the sociology of art, qualitative method, visual sociology and the practice of research and writing (composition theory) in social sciences
Telling About Society Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN-10: 0226041263 ISBN-13: 978-0226041261
Outsiders: Studies in Sociology of Deviance Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd; New Ed edition ISBN-10: 0684836351 ISBN-13: 978-0684836355
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites
