Abstract
Radiolab is a long-running podcast that covers a myriad of topics significant to sociological inquiry. Each episode focuses thematically on a scientific or philosophical question in an attempt to make academic and scientific work more accessible to a general audience. The prolific scope of themes covered provides ample opportunity for sociological inquiry and lends itself perfectly to educators looking to expand upon course material outside of textbook chapters or academic articles. The intentional thematic focus, inclusion of expert guests, and high production quality make each episode engaging for students and educators alike while providing additional case studies or examples from which course material can be grounded.
Originally airing in 2002, the Peabody Award–winning podcast Radiolab has produced a massive body of work spanning 15 seasons and hundreds of archived episodes. Originally founded by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich (now also hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser), Radiolab is unique in the high production quality it maintains, most certainly a result of the host’s background in documentary and music production. The podcast has been hailed as one of the most interesting radio programs in decades, with many of its strengths being attributed to its straddling the line between traditional journalism and more artful storytelling (Walker 2011). Episodes are mostly one-off treatments of a singular theme, with the occasional multipart episodes. Episodes generally range from 40 to 50 minutes with a short advertisement at the beginning and middle of each episode.
The high-level production and sheer breadth of topics covered by the podcast are its greatest strengths and make it an easy addition to most undergraduate courses. Episodes or shorts cover substantive themes that are easily added to courses on race/ethnicity (“Race” and “G,” season 5, episode 3; “Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl” season 11), gender/sexuality (“In the No” season 15 episode 59, “New Stu,” season 6, episode 4; and “Gonads,” season 15, episode 48), crime (“Fault Line and Forget about Blame,” season 12, episode 1; “The Other Latif” and “The Bad Show,” season 10, episode 5), drugs and society (“The Fix,” season 14, short), the environment (“Galapagos,” season 12, episode 9), or sport (“Cut and Run,” season 12, short; “American Football,” season 13, episode 5). Notably, episodes often cover sociological concepts from stratification/inequality (“Secrets to Success” and “Border Trilogy,” season 8, episode 2), norms (“New Normal?” season 13), or culture (“Straight Outta Chevy Chase,” season 13, episode 2), making it excellent supplemental material for introductory courses. Similarly, various episodes are great additions to methods courses in social research covering topics like measurement (“Plotting a Pain Scale,” season 11, episode 8), ethics (“Who’s Bad?” season 10, episode 5), experimental research (“You Are What Your Grandpa Eats,” season 11, episode 2), or phenomena like stereotype threat (“The Obama Effect, Perhaps” season 5, episode 2).
The episode “Secrets to Success” (season 8, episode 7) is especially fitting in that it offers several sections detailing the social forces behind individual success. This episode is useful in introductory or sociology-of-sport courses as it clearly details cumulative advantage as it pertains to hockey players in Canadian youth hockey leagues and the life and relative success of individuals like Bill Gates or Wayne Gretsky. Radiolab’s thematic structure lends itself perfectly to these introductory courses, in which students are most likely unfamiliar with sociological concepts or a sociological perspective. Each episode provides instructors with opportunities to situate difficult concepts or material within a more popular or easily digestible framework. Furthermore, this episode can be a great accompaniment or foundation from which students can explore their own lived experience through assignments like Fitzwater Gonzales’s (2019) “Socialization Autobiography.”
The episode titled “The Bad Show” (season 10, episode 5) lends itself perfectly to courses in either deviance and crime or survey methods. The section “Who’s Bad” within this episode starts with a summation and retelling of the Milgram experiments as told by Dr. Alex Haslam. Haslam’s perspective and subsequent research regarding the experiment provide an exceptional foundation from which instructors can discuss not only the experiments themselves but also an interactionist approach to understanding deviance. For courses on deviance or crime, this episode is a perfect addition to a section on symbolic interactionist theory or situational analysis of crime (see Birkbeck and LaFree 1993).
The section “Who’s Bad” is similarly appropriate for a methods course. This episode provides a seamless foundation from which instructors might preface course discussions around either experimental methods or ethics within research. In tandem with Reicher, Haslam, and Smith’s (2012) article, “Working toward the Experimenter: Reconceptualizing Obedience within the Milgram Paradigm as Identification-Based Followership,” instructors can explore the conceptualization and operationalization of concepts within an experimental setting while discussing the importance of validity in research and the interpretation of data. As a supplement to projects like Kawaguchi’s (2019) “Give Methods a Chance,” this episode can provide a framework by which students unpack elements of particular methodological approaches in a systematic fashion.
A number of additional Radiolab episodes are perfect supplements to teaching resources and assignments at various levels across various subjects. Both “New Stu” (season 6, episode 4) and the series “Gonads” (season 15, episode 48) are wholly attuned with Stough-Hunter’s (2014) “Gender Socialization” TRAILS assignment as they align with socialization’s role in gendered scripts or stereotypes as well as the media’s role in promoting gender scripts. With a thematic focus on the racialized or culturally biased history of intelligence testing, the series “G” is paired well with Beer’s (2013) “Race and College Admissions” or Krull’s (2021) “Identifying Manifestations of Color-Blind Racism” assignment. These two assignments could pair equally well with the episode “Race” (season 5, episode 3), which unambiguously addresses the social construction of race. Finally, a course implementing Stewart’s (2015) “Drug Policy and the War on Drugs” may find episodes like “The Fix” (season 13, episode 38) as a useful precursor to the in-class activity.
A significant strength of Radiolab for an undergraduate population is the dynamic between hosts. Within episodes, each host plays the role of skeptic or learner from varying perspectives, paralleling the disparate perspectives students might bring into the classroom. Krulwich will often take on the role of heel as he makes grandiose philosophical musings almost as a reflection of the popular sentiment that might typically frame an issue in popular culture. The various guests, or Abumrad, are then allowed space to further interrogate the subject at hand in much the same way an instructor might unpack an issue in class. This structure allows for a significant bit of the contextualizing of issues and often provides an anchor point an instructor may use to address these points as they come up in discussion. This play between hosts and guests, married with the stellar production quality, makes Radiolab feel more comprehensible and perhaps less steeped in academic jargon or esoteric theory.
Radiolab also excels at focusing on individuals and their stories, making it particularly accessible to students. While tackling difficult or complex subject matter, the show roots its narrative in individual experience and stories that are challenging yet understandable. While the production at times can feel avant-garde in its approach, its application is almost solely used to emphasize the human (and often explicitly social) elements of the stories being told. The production, hosts, and thematic focus all work in unison to create a product that is exceptionally focused and that students may find more relatable than potentially dry treatments of social problems found in traditional texts.
One potential weakness of the podcast is that as most episodes do not reference sociological theory explicitly, their inclusion as course material necessitates a bit of work on the part of instructors to frame the content. This work can be easily addressed by prefacing the material with students prior to their assignment. Additionally, the absolute range of topics covered and the poor archiving of episodes can prove challenging when looking for new episodes as potential additions during course prep. Finally, the more philosophical perspective can feel meandering and lead to more grand theoretical tangents within class if the instructor is not careful in steering the conversation away from deep waters. All of these drawbacks are negligible with careful consideration before adding episodes to course syllabi and as the relevant sections appear in class. Despite these drawbacks and the sheer volume of episodes in reach, Radiolab is a perfect addition to course syllabi that demand the inclusion of more entertaining or nontraditional course material.