The Podcast for Social Research, Episode 10: On the 2012 Presidential Election

This is the first episode of the second season of our podcast series, “The Podcast for Social Research.” We recorded this episode on Friday, October 23 with an eye towards relevance to the upcoming election, and also to return to film criticism to inaugurate our second season, much as we began our first.  As such, this was recorded long before any of us realized that by this weekend, with a mere 4 days till the election, most of our city’s attention would be focused on displaced people, power outages, destroyed infrastructure, climate change, and the politics of crisis response. However, there is still an election on Tuesday, and there is still a place for discussion even in a crisis. So whether you are stuck at home because of the subways or heading out to Far Rockaway, Staten Island, Red Hook, or any of the other neighborhoods still in critical need, or anywhere else in the world, we hope you enjoy our discussion of political movements and elections and our friendly critique of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.” As always, please see our Notations section after the jump for some references, asides, and more. Although we have a bibliography in our customary style, our own time constraints to post this before the election will keep this episode’s Notations largely without time stamps. We promise to return to our full, thorough style of Notations for next episode. Until then, share, enjoy, stay safe, and warm.

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The Podcast for Social Research: Episode 10

Notations

Part I: 00:00:00 – (Music: “Stillwell Ave.” by El Diablo Robotico)

00:00:25 – Introduction to Season 2

00:02:10 – On Elections, Political Participation, Political and Social Movements

Frances Fox Piven and Lorraine C. Minnite.Movements Need Politicians– And Vice Versa
Deepak Bhargava.Why Obama?
E.E. Schattschneider. The Semisovereign People
Richard Hofstadter.  The Idea of a Party System
Stanley Fish.Politics in the Academy
Edward Said. The Question of Palestine
National Voter Turnout in Federal Elections: 1960–2010
Frances Fox Piven. Challenging Authority
Ajay Singh Chaudhary. “The Simulacra of Morality”
Hilary Busis.  “How Do Movie Theaters Decide Which Trailers to Show?

00:59:15 – Break! (Music: “On a Slow Boat to China” by Frank Loesser, performed by Kay Kyser)

01:00:46 – On The Master, Charismatic Authority, Abjection, Mastery

The Master (2012) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
Jakob Mikanowski. American Caliban
Victor Hugo. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Ben Parker.In ‘The Master’ P.T. Anderson Explores…
Split Saber?
L. Ron Hubbard. Battlefield Earth
Herman Melville. Billy Budd
Julia Kristeva. Powers of Horror
William Shakespeare. The Tempest
Neoplatonism
It is seemingly impossible to find the “Freedom of Science Fiction” scene from Friends with Benefits (2011) anywhere online; make of that what you will.
Merkin
Theodor Adorno. The Stars Down to Earth
Roland Barthes. Camera Lucida
Immanuel Kant. Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime.
Technical Details: Recorded on a Samson CO1U into an msi PC running the beta version of the freeware program Audacity 1.3.13 while consuming enjoyable, yet moderate, amounts of Sixpoint Autumnation seasonal ale and good old-fashioned New York City tap water.

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