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Society, Politics & Law
Buddhist Economics
In the world of economics, does a person’s well-being really matter? What is more important, social objectives or profit maximisation – or are they even compatible? During a trip to Burma in 1955, Ernest Schumacher pioneered the concept of Buddhist Economics, a set of principles based on the belief that the function of business is to supply ...
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Nature & Environment
Earth in crisis: environmental policy in an international context
This innovative album introduces one of the biggest, and most complex, of today’s environmental problems – climate change. It features the hard-hitting, "Who Will Pay", selected as a finalist in an international film competition on "Vulnerability Exposed: The Social Dimensions of Climate Change" organised by the World Bank. This 'Earth in ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Understanding Identity
Who are we? What shapes us into the people we are? Over the last 50 years advances in society and technology has meant that we can be whoever we want to be. Infertile couples have the chance of conceiving a child; a man can become a woman; if an organ fails, you can get a new one. But is it all for the greater good? There are people in today's ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Understanding Social Change
Change, diversity and uncertainty are unavoidable features of modern life. Collectively, we may be living through a major transformation in society and the traditions that hold it together. Individually, we may face increasing barriers to taking responsibility for our own destinies, exercising power and making our own decisions. The tracks on ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Living in a globalised world
What are borders for? Who controls them, and why might people risk their lives to cross them? This album examines the border between Mexico and the United States as a symbolic place which both connects and divides people, highlighting complex issues about cultural belonging and national identity. Many disturbing aspects of border control are ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Making Social Worlds
How does society create and control our social world? How do passports and passbooks function as agents of government control? And what are the purposes of citizenship tests and ceremonies? This album provides insight into how large communities are organised to regulate their social behaviour. People who lived under Apartheid in South Africa ...
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Society, Politics & Law
The abolition of capital punishment
Is the death penalty right or wrong? Does it act as a deterrent to serious crime? And is it necessarily an inhumane act? December 16th 2009 sees the 40th anniversary of the abolition in the UK of capital punishment for the crime of murder. In this specially recorded discussion, Professor Gary Slapper, Director of the Centre for Law at The Open ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Crime, Order and Social Control
Have you ever been the victim of crime? Are you fearful of rising crime rates? Crime is one of contemporary society's most pressing social problems - how should we respond to it? This album visits various communities in the UK to explore issues of criminal justice and the introduction of possibly controversial crime control initiatives such as ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Welfare, crime and society
If you feel that you are being watched, it may well be that you are. Surveillance is an ever growing feature of 21st century life in countries across the world, raising issues of social justice, security and community. The tracks on this album explore how forms and practices of surveillance reveal the entanglements between welfare, crime and ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Rules, rights and justice: an introduction to law
Are prisons effective and does trial by jury still work? How should the law deal with companies that cause fatal accidents? And what extra rights should children conceived using donor sperm have? This album introduces the legal reasoning behind legislation, rights and justice. Experts and specialist lawyers debate how the law should address ...
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Society, Politics & Law
Theories and concepts in family meanings
Family life is constantly being scrutinised, but debates seem to sidestep the question of what ‘family’ really means. The Open University's Megan Doolittle joins four leading academics from the field of sociology to tackle the issues head on. They look at how families communicate and behave, and they talk about family personal life and what is ...
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Society, Politics & Law
The hidden history of learning disability
How important is oral history in understanding the life of people with learning disabilities? This audio, recorded in July 2009 at the Social History of Learning Disability Conference at The Open University, features people with learning disabilities sharing their experiences first-hand with historians and social researchers on equal terms. The ...