What Reality TV Says About Us

The United States has no hate speech laws; hate speech is generally considered to be free speech under the First Amendment. In Hate Speech: The Legal and Cultural History of an American Dilemma (U California Press, 2026), acclaimed legal historian Samantha Barbas chronicles the c ...  Show more

Why we crave enjoyment from news, how our news use divides us, and what we can do to create better news and more informed citizens. TikTok. Short-form reels. Late-night TV monologues. Podcasts. The way news is delivered has changed dramatically and so has the way we consume it. N ...  Show more

Sociologist Danielle J. Lindemann joined the pod to talk about her book, “True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us.” Reality TV is a cultural product, and just like any other cultural product, it can tell us so much about ourselves, our social roles and expectations, our values, ...  Show more

What if I told you reality TV says a lot about the world around us? I'm sure you're skeptical, but hopefully, this episode will convince you that reality TV is worth paying attention to, especially for social scientists. Joining me are Danielle Lindemann, Associate Professor of S ...  Show more

On this week’s episode of The Waves, historian and original Waves host, Marcia Chatelain is joined by sociologist Danielle Lindemann to talk all things reality TV. They discuss Danielle’s new book, True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us and why we don’t take reality television ...  Show more

Nude strangers. Icy roads. Brain rot. True love. Class warfare. Queer visibility. Scripted ad libs. Sociologist, professor, author of the book “True Story: What Reality TV Says About Us,” and straight up Reality TV Sociologist, Dr. Danielle Lindemann studies human behavior thr ...