Anonymity and self creation: Laurie Taylor talks to Thomas DeGloma, Associate Professor of Sociology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, about hidden identities and how and why we use anonymity, for good or ill. He explores a wide range of historical and contemporary cases, from the Ku Klux Klan to 'Dr H' the psychiatrist who disguised his identity in a meeting which changed his profession's regressive attitudes towards homosexuality. In recent years, anonymity has featured widely in the political and social landscape: from the pseudonymous artist, Banksy, to Hackers Anonymous and QAnon. What is anonymity, and why, under various circumstances, do individuals act anonymously? How do individuals use it, and, in some situations, how is it imposed on them?
Also, Tara Isabella Burton, Visiting Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, on the crafting of public personae, from Beau Brummell to the Kardashians. She finds the trend for personal branding, amongst ordinary people as well as celebrities, originated with the idea that we could shape our own destiny, once the power of the church had waned. What are the connections between the Renaissance genius and the Regency dandy, the Hollywood 'IT' girl and Reality TV star? Might there be social costs to seeing self-determination as the fundamental element of human life?
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Food bank Britain, Food poverty in Europe
The English Defence League; 'Real' immigrants
Political women and language, The morality of sleep medication
Good neighbours, The connection between sport and domestic abuse
Secrecy at Work, Drugs and Employment
Ale drinkers, Northern accents
'Queer' wars, Nigerian beauty pageants
Glasgow gangs - Russian gangs
Migrant women, Wedding paradoxes
The Flaneur - Walking in the City
Happiness and government, Good parenting
Ethnography Award winner, Transcultural football
The BSA and Thinking Allowed Ethnography Award Shortlist
Dance halls, Pick-up artists
Eviction, Self-build
Philanthropy - Charity
Small towns, Patient rescue and resuscitation
The debt collection industry, Spousal job loss
Refusing adulthood, How young people feel about being poor
Museums and nationalism, Imagining utopias
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