Thinking Allowed

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Science & Nature

BBC Radio 4 LW

Thinking Allowed: The politics of the body

The politics of the body

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, The politics of the body

The politics of the body: movement and posture.

The politics of the body: Laurie Taylor explores the relationships between freedom and how we move and the posture panic which once gripped America.

The politics of the body: movement and posture. Laurie Taylor talks to Matthew Beaumont, Professor in English Literature at UCL, about how race, class, and politics influence the way we move: You can tell a lot about people by how they walk. Through a series of dialogues with thinkers and walkers, his book explores the relationship between freedom and the human body. Also, Beth Linker, Associate Professor in the Social Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania discusses the posture panic which once seized America - a decades-long episode in which it was widely accepted as scientific fact that Americans were suffering from an epidemic of slouching, with potentially catastrophic health consequences. Tracing the rise and fall of this socially manufactured epidemic, she reveals how this period influenced the 20th century eugenics movement and the belief that sitting or standing up straight was a sign of moral rectitude.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Thinking Allowed

The politics of the body

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4