Maiden Mother Matriarch with Louise Perry

The institution of marriage has changed a lot over the last few centuries. As Eli Finkel explains in ‘The All of Nothing Marriage’ – truly one of my favourite social science books – Americans of the early nineteenth century would look with confusion on our modern attitudes towards what a spouse ought to be. An economic partner, sure. A co-parent, obviously. But a best friend, even a soul mate?
Today, Eli and I track these changes across American history, and we ask whether our modern attitudes towards marriage have some significant downsides. It seems that the best marriages are now better than ever. But it also seems that the institution as a whole has become more fragile.
Eli is a social psychologist at Northwestern University and also the co-host – along with Paul Eastwick, another MMM guest – of the podcast ‘Love Factually’, which analyses movies through the lens of relationship science.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, I spoke with Ed West about why the story of the HMS Windrush has become so important in modern Britain, despite its historical inaccuracies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, I spoke with Rob Henderson about the link between the decline in marriage rates and the decline in fertility rates. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Ehrlich was the author of the 1968 book 'The Population Bomb' - a book that made him into a celebrity. His message was a horrifying one. “In the 1970s and 1980s” he announced in the opening lines, “hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now.”

Thankfully, that prediction was not realised. But Ehrlich's influence lives on after his death, not least in the work of my guest today. Les Knight is the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT). His goal is that humans should, as the movement's motto puts it, “live long and die out.” If he got his way, all humans would vanish within a century or so.

Today I ask Les to explain his worldview.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, Nina Power and I discussed the local elections in Britain and what the results indicate about political polarisation, especially with regards to age, ethnicity, class, and sex. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.