Seriously Social

Feeling old? Good news: you're trending. Globally, there are now more people over the age of 65 than five and under. By 2050, there'll be more over 65s than under 21s. But in Australia, where 1 in 10 Australian companies will not hire people over 50, ageism is rife.  So what's the cost of excluding older people, and what are some solutions to our ageist society?

How will you retire well? How much money will you need to maintain your standard of living once you're not working, particularly in your last 20-30 years of life? With help from our guest Professor Andrew Podger from the Australian National University (ANU), you'll learn when to throw money into superannuation (and when to supercharge your efforts); what you'll need to spend through each stage of retirement and what your super fund should be doing to help you better understand your finances in those twilight years.  

Listen to our most downloaded season to date. 

With travel bans and canned plans, negotiating travel in the time of COVID is proving tricky. We'll talk to experts about where the industry is at now,  learn what's happened to those dependant on the industry for their career, and explain why tourism is so stuck negotiating the present it's almost impossible for those in it to plan for the future.

Whether or not your own business – or your own employment situation – was impacted directly, nobody could ignore seeing the financial impact of COVID-19 start to unfold last year. Podcast host Ginger Gorman reviews her 2020 interview with Economics Editor for the Sydney Morning Herald Ross Gittins, who stated that Australia's recession was “completely different” to anything before. Ahead of the Federal Budget, let's see how his predictions and commentary stack up in 2021 with commentary from Professor of Economics at UNSW Business School, Richard Holden.   

What's involved in forecasting the Federal Budget, COVID-19 daily case numbers, or Australia's electricity needs?  Join expert Professor Rob Hyndman as he explains the art of prediction. This episode also features guests Jehan Ratnatunga (Who Gives A Crap) and leading economist Stephen Koukoulas.  

Whatevs, just chillax – slang is here to stay. Slang expert Professor Kate Burridge explains how slang evolves and why it sticks around, and you'll meet three linguists who are working hard to revitalise some of our ‘sleeping' Indigenous languages.

Toxic masculinity and rape culture are in the headlines again. And women are furious. So how can we reset masculine norms? We met two men working to help others embrace an expression of masculinity that is healthy for all genders. We also look to the past to understand the present as Professor Pauline Grosjean explains how gender imbalance in the arrival of the First Fleet still impacts behaviours today.

Are you or your team clocking long hours at work? Or often twiddling your thumbs? Turns out Goldilocks was right: the balance needs to be just right. In this episode, Professor Andrew Neal discusses how bosses effectively (and ineffectively) manage workloads and what the risks are when they get it wrong. 

Have you ever used humour in a potentially inappropriate situation? Did it help? Humour does more than provide a giggle or two. It's an energiser, an icebreaker and a team builder. In this episode, Professor Sharyn Roach Anleu, Dr David Cheng and the 2020 cartoonist of the year Cathy Wilcox explain its purpose and provide some laughs along the way too. 

Do you have an image you just can't get out of your mind? Something from the news or a current event? Did it impact how you thought about that issue - maybe for decades? According to Professor Roland Bleiker (and at least one Ethiopian taxi driver) visual politics is a real thing, and it's twisting our perceptions every day.

The TV show, Neighbours, premiered in 1985. Since then, you're likely to know half as many neighbours as you did in the mid-1980s. So, how did your community help you get through 2020? And why is something Professor Andrew Leigh terms “an ugly term for a beautiful concept” (social capital) so important? 

Do you have a family recipe that keeps you together? Most of us have at least one dish in our repertoire that holds decades of memories - or even family history. Did you revisit that recipe this year? One of Australia's eminent food historians shares how food keeps us together, even when we are apart – both in good times and times of crisis, and why your family recipes help you through hard times.

How much would you pay to claw back some extra time? Would the answer be different now that, as one of the few silver linings of COVID 19, you can work from home a lot more? Would it be $10 a week? $20 a week? Transport expert Professor David Hensher actually knows the answer. (Spoiler: It's a lot!) The death of commuting is making many of us happier, but has 2020 really been our one-way road out of traffic congestion? And if it is, how will our cities look on the other side?

How far would you go to right a wrong? Would you crowdfund your way to the High Court? That's exactly what Professor Jenny Hocking did when she realised Australians were being kept from accessing the real history behind the historic 1975 Whitlam government dismissal. We take you behind the scenes to the treasure hunt for those 200 explosive Palace letters - the same letters that led to one of the most controversial political actions in Australian history. 

Ross Gittins, Economics Editor for the Sydney Morning Herald, has seen both sides of three recessions. This one is the fourth he's worked through. So why is this one “completely different” and why does this experienced commentator say it will it be harder to get out of? Listen in as Ross and host Ginger Gorman discuss the ins and outs of our struggling economy.

As protests and riots continue in America over police brutality and persecution of people of colour, Australia's own injustices against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must also be subject to public scrutiny. Join Aboriginal Australian activist and human rights lawyer, Megan Davis, alongside host Ginger Gorman as they reflect on the significance of the Uluru Statement from the Heart three years on, and steps to reconciliation and equal political representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Pyjamas, commuting from bed to your desk just minutes after waking up, no boss looking over your shoulde­r–working from home sounds like a dream. But what about the pressures from family, bad technology, and lack of support from colleagues? Professor Sharon Parker, from the Future of Work Institute at Curtin University, and Laureate from the Australian Research Council, discusses the Australian workforce's adjustment to isolated work. Listen to her and host Ginger Gorman as they theorise about the future of the Australian workforce.

Male socialisation and ideals of masculinity already have a devastating effect on the health and well-being of men across the globe. With the added pressures from COVID-19, and forced isolation, this issue is turning into another kind of pandemic. Join Professor Jane Pirkis, Director of the Centre for Mental Health at the University of Melbourne speaking with journalist Ginger Gorman as they discuss their common area of expertise: suicide representation and prevention in the media. Listen as they consider how we can best look out for each other, encourage people to seek support, and learn alternative ways to check in with mates in our new normal.

Australian higher education institutions are caught up in the fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But closing borders to international students has had an unintended outcome: it's highlighted faults in the system and raised new questions around higher education in Australian society. How can we best support our international students? Should high school students enrol in university or undertake vocational training at the end of their studies? Do ATARs encompass all of the relevant skills needed for higher education and the workforce? Join host Ginger Gorman with Chancellor of Western Sydney University, Professor Peter Shergold as they discuss Australia's higher education system – both tertiary and otherwise – and the challenges, and future, of our education sector.

When is a health crisis not just a health crisis? When it's a global pandemic and it shows up the weak points that already existed in society. But could COVID19, for all its problems, be part of a much-needed reset for Australia's health and other systems? Former Australian of the Year, Professor Fiona Stanley explores the opportunity to build a better future in this episode of the Seriously Social podcast.

Why do CEOs get paid so much? Why are we so discriminatory about mental illness? And where would the Federal Government's dollars be best spent in our efforts to reset the economy? Economist, lawyer and former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Professor Allan Fels AO has spent much of his career fighting for the battler. In this engaging conversation between Fels and journalist Ginger Gorman, we find out why fighting the good fight matters.

As Australia reels from the catastrophic bushfires and deals with COVID-19, these moments have revealed the fragility of our infrastructure including supply chains and telecommunications. This episode of the Seriously Social podcast explores Artificial Intelligence and what it means for humanity. Join host Ginger Gorman with cultural anthropologist, technologist and futurist Professor Genevieve Bell as they dissect the fears and realities of technology.

Seriously Social helps you understand your world. Each week listen to indepth, intelligent insights from Australia's best social scientists. We talk human society, our social relationships and the world in transition. Hosted by journalist Ginger Gorman and brought to you by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

Pre-pandemic Australia was seen as an epicentre of hope – that despite high rates of loneliness and suicidality, we were getting buy-in on the important work to be done in mental health.  Mental illness is costing Australia thousands of lives each year, as well as counting for 35% loss of GDP from health problems.  So why, despite the daily reminder from COVID that prevention is better than a cure, are we not doing more? Join Professor Pat McGorry and journalist Ginger Gorman in this compelling discussion, the second half of our mental health special.

How do you build the mental wealth of a nation? Mental ill health is costing us about 4% of GDP, a figure that one of Australia's best-known researchers in the field, Professor Ian Hickie says holds its own meaning: “It clearly points a chaotic system, that's poorly funded and was never designed to deliver mental health for those who are in trouble or mental wealth for the nation in the 21st century.” As Australians wax and wane between life under lockdown and learning to manage our ‘new normal', what's happening with our mental health? Join Ian for the first of our two-part mental health special as he talks with journalist Ginger Gorman on mental wealth, the need for public debate on mental ill health, and some potential solutions to a ‘frog boiling' problem.

How is the domestic load shared in your household? Would you say it's more or less equal, or, as in so many Aussie households, is the division of domestic labour and childcare a battleground? The pandemic created what experts describe as an unprecedented external shock, forcing homes to temporarily become our primary workplaces as well as the locations where all the care was happening. So how did dual earning couples with kids share this load? What happened to men's and women's dissatisfaction levels? On this episode of Seriously Social (the last for Season 1) journalist Ginger Gorman speaks with Melbourne University Sociology Professor Lyn Craig about her brand new research…do not miss this episode! See you in a couple of weeks for Season 2.

Have you been using your phone and your computer more in pandemic? The paradox is that tech can make us more connected, but also more isolated. But are there circumstances in which tech actually brings us closer together? What lessons can we learn from this crisis as humans? What will this teach us about community, compassion and kindness? This week journalist Ginger Gorman chats with one of Australia's best known psychologists and social researchers, Hugh Mackay, about loneliness and the digital age.

The Covid-19 pandemic transformed Australian society and the world seemingly overnight. But suddenly politics looks very different too. The virus effectively wiped the political slate and took all kinds of pressing issues off the agenda. At the same, time major Government messages displayed a kind of bipartisanship perhaps reserved only for times of true crisis. On this episode of Seriously Social renowned political journalist and academic Michelle Grattan shares how the virus has changed Australian politics and industrial relations and how it might change the landscape into the future.

When the Government's public health warnings came out at the start of the Covid-19 lockdown they were both factual and political, according to Indigenous academic and filmmaker Professor Larissa Behrendt. Why? Find out on this episode of the Seriously Social podcast with journalist Ginger Gorman. You'll also discover how indigenous health professionals were well ahead of the game when it came to helping prevent the virus spreading into their communities, and delve into Larissa's moving new documentary, Maralinga-Jaritza, about the 1950s atomic testing in South Australia.

In science fiction films and books, Artificial Intelligence (or A-I) is usually either depicted as a menace to society or the saviour of the human race. Which is it? In this episode of the Seriously Social podcast, journalist Ginger Gorman speaks to Professor Anthony Elliott, an expert on the way humans interact with technology. With fresh eyes Anthony unpicks our issues with the Australian Government's COVIDSafe app, and reveals the unprecedented ways in which A-I–usually so invisible to most of us–is helping us fight the deadly coronavirus on a global scale.

If you're a millennial, spending part or all of your young adult life living at home with your boomer parents has been the norm for a while. After all, rents are high and work is insecure. How else are you going to get ahead? But what we weren't banking on was Covid-19 lockdown, when everyone was forced to stay home together 24/7. From lockdown to easing of restrictions and the many variations within these extremes, what exactly has been happening inside Australia's multigenerational homes? And will the pandemic create a “Generation Covid” – people whose lives are forever marked by the pandemic? Join Ginger Gorman on this episode of Seriously Social as she chats with an expert in intergenerational relationships, Melbourne University sociologist Associate Professor Dan Woodman.

Cruise ships stuck at sea, airlines going into voluntary administration, borders closed and travellers racing deadlines to get home. There's no doubt the travel and tourism industry was an early victim of COVID-19. But what does recovery look like? On this episode of Seriously Social, tourism expert Professor Sara Dolnicar from UQ's Business School explains what the tourism industry of the future might look like.

It's a discussion we're hearing on repeat: do we save lives, or save the economy? For some, COVID-19 is the ultimate choice between two ‘must haves'.  But is it really? Professor Richard Holden explains why he joined economists from across the globe to explain to us the false dichotomy of public health versus the economy.  We'll cover everything from game theory to social equalisers to the issue of whether economists are really the cold and calculating types they're sometimes made out to be.

With the #metoo movement, Harvey Weinstein's conviction and subsequent sentencing – it finally seemed that gender equality issues were gaining traction, at least in the public's mind. But what has the COVID-19 crisis taught us about gender, diversity and the very notion of citizenship? On this episode of Seriously Social journalist Ginger Gorman talks to legal scholar Professor Kim Rubenstein about gender and the pandemic, leadership and what it means to be an active citizen.

  S1 Episode 1: In this launch episode of the Seriously Social podcast, historian Frank Bongiorno shares what history can teach us about living through the current COVID-19 pandemic. Frank is a Australian National University history professor and fellow of both the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and in this episode he takes us back in time to the Peloponnesian War, the 1918-19 Spanish Flu outbreak, the World Wars and Great Depression to see how other generations have dealt with global catastrophic events (and it's not all bad news!).        

What is the social impact of the COVID-19 crisis? Seriously Social is a new podcast addressing this question. The country's best social scientists will help you understand human society, social relationship and the systems that govern our daily lives. Brought to you by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.