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Thinking Allowed: Rituals at Christmas

25/12/2014

Rituals at Christmas

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Rituals at Christmas

Laurie Taylor presents a special edition that explores rituals at Christmas and beyond.

Laurie Taylor presents a special edition which explores customs and rituals at Christmas and beyond.

Customs at Christmas and beyond. It may be best not to invite a sociologist for Xmas - they're liable to spend their time chronicling, even questioning your seasonal rituals. In this festive programme, Laurie Taylor looks at the ever shifting nature of our habits, practices and customs; changes in our lives which have been detected and discussed in previous editions of Thinking Allowed. Is our concept of romantic love as timeless as we often presume? How did bathrooms evolve from luxurious Victorian rooms to classless and clinical spaces? Do contemporary constructions of sophisticated drinking downplay the risks of middle class alcohol consumption? In what ways has the elevator changed the status associated with the top and bottom floors of homes and buildings? And when did consumerism cease to be about the satisfaction of mere wants as opposed to the indulgence of hedonistic pleasures? Thinking Allowed subjects the trivial, the everyday and the taken for granted to entertaining sociological scrutiny.



Producer: Jayne Egerton.

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