This month's episode dives into the origins and definitions of the "sexiest job of the 21st century": Data science. I look at the most recent data to uncover how and why it emerged, and how it organized as a profession in a way that's completely different from our understanding of how professions are created. Joining me in this discussion is Philipp Brandt, assistant professor of sociology at SciencesPo and Centre for the Sociology of Organisations, who wrote the book, Inside Data Science: Hackers and the Making of a New Profession.

Show Notes

Brandt, P. (2026). Inside data science: Hackers and the making of a new profession. Columbia University Press. https://cup.columbia.edu/book/inside-data-science/9780231560184/

What exactly is legend tripping? Is it truly about finding ghosts and cryptids, or is it a ritual designed to create unbreakable social bonds? This month's episode dives into the three-part structure of a legend trip—from the initial tale to the retrospective reflection—and reveals how "expectation produces experience" to create the perfect legend.

Show notes

Debies-Carl, Jeffrey (2023). If You Should Go at Midnight. (2023). University Press of Mississippi https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/I/If-You-Should-Go-at-Midnight

‌McNeill, L. S., & Tucker, E. (2018). Legend Tripping: A Contemporary Legend Casebook. University Press of Colorado. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1vbd1wh

Miles, Tiya (2017). Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories of Slavery from the Civil War era. University of North Carolina Press. https://uncpress.org/9781469636146/tales-from-the-haunted-south/

‌"On the job with a ghost walk tour guide." The Canadian Press, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTYZv0JTrP0

Happy New Year, listeners! This month's episode deals with trust. When we think of trust, we tend to place this issue within the realm of psychology. It’s often seen as a complicated construct in our relationships that determines whether we believe those we know will act reliably, honestly, and supportively. But in sociology, we might think of trust in terms of social networks and ties. We might even think about trust in institutions. Can you trust an institution?

Dana Williams, a sociology professor at California State University, Chico and author of Who Do We Trust?, joins me to unpack issues around trust and how we can practice radical trust in 2026.

Show Notes

Williams, Dana. Who Do We Trust? - Pluto Press. (2025, December 23). Pluto Press. https://www.plutobooks.com/product/who-do-we-trust/

Cook, K. S., & Santana, J. J. (2020). Trust: Perspectives in Sociology. Routledge EBooks, 189–204. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315542294-15

Eileen, A., & Rosemary, B. (2020, September 9). Working Paper: Financialization in Health Care: The Transformation of US Hospital Systems. Center for Economic and Policy Research. https://cepr.net/publications/working-paper-financialization-in-health-care-the-transformation-of-us-hospital-systems/

Media clips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX3C2A9bck0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FegvO38Qa44

https://www.tiktok.com/@cbsnews/video/7568308533385596174