Social Science and Humanities Podcasts

Recommended

Hidden Brain (A Conversation About Life’s Unseen Patterns) Hidden Brain helps curious people understand the world — and themselves. Using science and storytelling, Hidden Brain's host Shankar Vedantam reveals the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, the biases that shape our choices, and the triggers that direct the course of our relationships.

Reveal (from The Center for Investigative Reporting) We engage and empower the public through investigative journalism and groundbreaking storytelling to spark action, improve lives and protect our democracy.

Backstory (A Program of Virginia Humanities) Ever think there’s more to history than meets the eye? Or wondered how your ancestors experienced their own current events? There’s the history you had to learn, and the history you want to learn. That’s where BackStory comes in. BackStory is a weekly podcast that uses current events in America to take a deep dive into our past. Hosted by noted U.S. historians, each episode provides listeners with different perspectives on a particular theme or subject – giving you all sides to the story and then some.

Planet Money (The Economy Explained) Imagine you could call up a friend and say, "Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy." Now imagine that's actually a fun evening. That's what we're going for at Planet Money. We try really hard every episode to find creative, entertaining ways to make sense of the big, complicated forces that move our economy.

Climate One at The Commonwealth Club (Connect the Issues) We're changing the conversation about energy, the economy, and the environment. Climate One at The Commonwealth Club offers a forum for candid discussion among climate scientists, policymakers, activists, and concerned citizens. Our live events are recorded and distributed to a global audience. By gathering inspiring, credible, and compelling information, we provide an essential resource to change-makers looking to make a difference.

Radiolab (A show about curiosity) Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience.

This American Life (produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago) This American Life is a weekly public radio program and podcast. Each week we choose a theme and put together different kinds of stories on that theme. Mostly we do journalism, but an entertaining kind of journalism that’s built around plot. In other words, stories! Our favorite sorts of stories have compelling people at the center of them, funny moments, big feelings, surprising plot twists, and interesting ideas. Like little movies for radio.

To The Best of Our Knowledge (Big Ideas. Listen. Think.) This is a nationally-syndicated, Peabody award-winning radio show where long-form interviews help fuel deep insights into our world. We have conversations with novelists and poets, scientists and software engineers, journalists and historians, filmmakers and philosophers, artists and activists—anyone with a big idea and a passion to have a creative and engaging conversation about it. We consider ideas big and small, conventional and dangerous, and marshal them into shows centered around a theme. A show's theme sometimes centers on a big question, other times it will zero in on the small things that give us pause.

TED Radio Hour (Technology, Entertainment, and Design converge) A journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, and new ways to think and create. An idea is the one gift that you can hang onto even after you've given it away. Welcome to TED Radio Hour hosted by Guy Raz – a journey through fascinating ideas: astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, new ways to think and create. Based on Talks given by riveting speakers on the world-renowned TED stage, each show is centered on a common theme – such as the source of happiness, crowd-sourcing innovation, power shifts, or inexplicable connections – and injects soundscapes and conversations that bring these ideas to life.

Invisibilia (Invisible things that control human behavior) Unseeable forces control human behavior and shape our ideas, beliefs, and assumptions. Invisibilia—Latin for invisible things—fuses narrative storytelling with science that will make you see your own life differently..

Stuff You Missed in History Class (A podcast from HowStuffWorks) Hosted by Tracy V. Wilson and Holly Frey, this podcast gives about 30 minutes to giving some background and interesting details about topics in history. The writers try to make their presentations entertaining and sometimes humorous. There are two commercial breaks inside the podcast (ugh), but the presentations are usually so good that I listen despite this.

On Being (civil conversations project and public theology) We take up the animating questions at the center of life: What does it mean to be human, how do we want to live, and who will we be to each other? We explore these questions in 21st-century lives and endeavors. We pursue wisdom and moral imagination as much as knowledge; we esteem nuance and poetry as much as fact. We seed the human change that makes social change possible across generational time.

The Partially Examined Life (A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog) What exactly is this Partially Examined Life podcast about? Philosophy, philosophers and philosophical texts. The format is an informal round-table discussion, with each episode loosely focused on a short reading that introduces at least one "big" philosophical question, concern or idea. The Partially Examined Life podcast is our attempt to recreate the good old days when we'd meet up after a seminar to drink beer and talk shop or get some teaching yas out where students couldn't talk back. We're recording it to share our joy in "doing" philosophy with all who care to listen while ranting bitterly about the profession that we so long ago escaped.

Philosophy Bites (podcasts of top philosophers interviewed on bite-sized topics) Philosophy Bites is a recommended podcast about philosophical topics.

Examining Ethics (New episodes on the last Wednesday of every month) Examining Ethics is an ethics podcast produced by The Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University. Everybody wrestles with questions about ethics. Some questions of ethics are easy to figure out. Should I murder someone? No! But other questions are more difficult to answer. Examining Ethics doesn’t provide answers to ethical dilemmas, but instead leaves listeners with an arsenal of tools that will help them think critically about the ethical questions that arise in everyday life. We aim to produce accessible, open-minded content about ethics. We feature interviews with ethics experts about their work. We also tell the stories of everyday people and how they wrestle with ethics.

Philosophy Talk (Stanford University’s radio program on philosophy) Philosophy Talk celebrates the value of the examined life. Each week, our host philosophers invite you to join them in conversation on a wide variety of issues ranging from popular culture to our most deeply-held beliefs about science, morality, and the human condition. Philosophy Talk challenges listeners to identify and question their assumptions and to think about things in new ways. We are dedicated to reasoned conversation driven by human curiosity. Philosophy Talk is accessible, intellectually stimulating, and most of all, fun!

Philosophize This! (with Stephen West) In-depth episodes on philosophers, often with multiple episodes devoted to a single philosopher or topic. Listening is more fun than just reading the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

The Great Books (a National Review podcast with John J. Miller) Join John J. Miller, the director of the journalism program at Hillsdale College, as he embarks upon a journey across the Western World’s rich literary heritage.

Social Work, Current Events, and Politics

Recommended

In Social Work (University of Buffalo) In Social Work is the podcast series of the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. The purpose of this series is to engage practitioners and researchers in lifelong learning and to promote research to practice and practice to research. inSocialWork features conversations with prominent social work professionals, interviews with cutting-edge researchers, and information on emerging trends and best practices in the field of social work.

The Social Work Podcast (All Things Social Work) The Social Work Podcast provides information on all things social work, including direct practice (both clinical and community organizing), research, policy, education... and everything in between. Join your host, Jonathan Singer, Ph.D., LCSW, as he explores topics near and dear to every social worker's heart. The purpose of the podcast is to present useful information in a user-friendly format. Although the intended audience is social workers, the information will be useful to anyone in a helping profession (including psychology, nursing, psychiatry, counseling, and education). The general public might also find these podcasts useful as a way of learning what social workers understand to be important.

Thoughts On The Social World (Social World Podcast) This is a UK podcast from David Niven. He describes this podcast this way:
I’ve been involved in Social Work for many years and seen triumphs and disasters. It’s a huge subject and there’s plenty to talk about. Thoughts on the Social World has been created to educate and share information on social work and social care.
My podcasts and blogs discuss all aspects of the social world including: media management, social care, child abuse, children’s services, safeguarding children, vulnerable adults and children, judicial systems, social networking, the influence of the media, training, social workers.

NASW Social Work Talks (National Association of Social Workers) NASW Social Work Talks podcast gives us an opportunity to explore topics that social workers care about and to hear from social work experts and pioneers. Brought to you by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

North American Association of Christians in Social Work (NACSW Podcasts) NACSW records and makes available to its members and friends a wide variety of presentations and discussions on topics focused on the ethical integration of Christian faith and professional social work practice. Our “Quarterly Podcast” program features a new podcast at least every quarter for your listening pleasure! Below you will find a link to this quarter’s featured podcast.

Guerrilla Social Work Podcast (For social work with court-ordered clients) Therapists and long time friends Jeff, Justin, and Mace talk about their work in the field of forensic clinical therapy. The podcast is centered around working with clients going through court-ordered therapy. It provides information for clients, current and future social workers, and any interested listener.

Social Work Conversations (University of Kentucky College of Social Work) Here we explore the intersection of social work research, practice and education. Our goal is to showcase the amazing people associated with our college and give our listeners practical tools they can use to change the world. Each month we have a conversation with a social work practitioner, researcher, educator or speaker to learn more about their life and work. This podcast is intended to be instructive and helpful as we explore social issues and challenges faced by the modern day social worker. The podcast stopped in 2019, but all the old episodes seem to be available.

State Week (What is going on in Illinois politics) State Week has been produced by NPR Illinois since January 1975, created by original WSSR News Director Rich Bradley when the station went on the air. It is the longest running public affairs program on NPR Illinois and was patterned after the popular PBS show Washington Week in Review.

Le Show (With Harry Shearer) A weekly, hour-long romp through the worlds of media, politics, sports and show business, leavened with an eclectic mix of mysterious music, hosted by Harry Shearer.
This podcast involves satirical skits and parodies along with reviews of the week’s news and occasional in-depth episodes about issues in society. Harry Shearer is mainly known as a comedian and voice actor, but he is passionate about political science, current events, and social justice. His podcast includes segments about climate change (News of the Warm), topics that are big abroad but ignored by American media (News from Outside the Bubble), the influence of money on policy (Follow the Dollar), and things like that.

Fresh Air (With Terry Gross) This podcast is an interview-format program that usually features authors, directors, musicians, and the topics are from entertainment and culture producers, but about once per week (and sometimes more often) the topic will relate to current events, social problems, or issues in policy and politics.

Wrongful Conviction (With Jason Flom). Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom is a podcast about tragedy, triumph, unequal justice and actual innocence.  Based on the files of the lawyers who freed them, Wrongful Conviction features interviews with men and women who have spent decades in prison for crimes they did not commit – some of them had even been sentenced to death.  These are their stories.

Best of the Left (With Jay! Tomlinson). Review of topics in the news and current events from a radical to liberal perspective.

KCRW’s Left, Right & Center (News and analysis). KCRW's weekly confrontation over politics, policy and popular culture.

The New Yorker (Politics and More). A weekly discussion about politics, hosted by The New Yorker’s executive editor, Dorothy Wickenden.

Radio Atlantic (Podcast of the Atlantic Monthly). Weekly conversations with leading journalists and thinkers to make sense of the history happening all around us.

Terrence McNally Podcast (A world that just might work). Features conversations with people who offer pieces of the puzzle of “a world that just might work” — provocative approaches to business, environment, health, science, politics, media and culture.

Pacifica Evening News (I prefer this over NPR). A 90 minute news program.

Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (Counterspin). FAIR, the national media watch group, has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986. We work to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. As an anti-censorship organization, we expose neglected news stories and defend working journalists when they are muzzled. FAIR produces the weekly radio program Counterspin,  the show that brings you the news behind the headlines.

The 21st (Illinois Public Media) A public radio talk show hosted by Niala Boodhoo that brings you the news, culture, and stories that matter to Illinois.

Illinois Issues (from NPR Illinois at UIS) Reporting and analysis taking you beyond the daily news and providing a deeper understanding of our state.

Common Sense with Dan Carlin (an independent look at politics) Common Sense with Dan Carlin isn’t a show for everyone, and that’s what makes it so great. It’s a smart, deep, passionate, engaging, inquisitive and of course, politically Martian view of news and current events. There’s nothing else like it.

Wall Street Journal Opinion (Potomac Watch with Paul Gigot) I must recommend at least some conservative sources, and this is one of the better ones I'm aware of.

The Weekly Standard Podcast (TWS Podcast) Another conservative or reactionary source of opinion and news.

Commentary Magazine Podcast (John Podhoretz & others) Yet another conservative source of opinion and perspective on the news. It is pretty good.

Taiwan This Week (International Community Radio) I listen to this each week to keep up with what is going on in my “second home” of Taiwan. If you want to know what is going on in Taiwan, this is the podcast you should check out each week.

Knowing Better is not a podcast, it is a YouTube channel to which you can subscribe. I like it. For pure entertainment, I also like Bald and Bankrupt. I also follow Chris Martenson's Peak Prosperity, which seems pretty good for following coronavirus science, but Chris has biases that sometimes get him speculating or enthusiastically endorsing ideas that are ridiculous, so you've got to hear him with your critical thinking on high alert, and his economic analysis is generally of low quality. For pure coverage of the pandemic without questionable economic analysis, I also like John Campbell.