This episode of Radio 4's Thinking Allowed series includes two segments. The first looks at research published in 1960 on social change and kinship patterns in Swansea which showed how extended family networks operate. Forty years on, a group of social scientists decided to replicate the 1960 survey and track the changes that have taken place in that time.
Host, Laurie Taylor, is joined by Professor Nickie Charles, one of the co- authors of the new survey to talk about the ways in which family networks persist despite the instability of 21st century life.
The second segment looks at questions surrounding inequality. Laurie Taylor explores the reasons for growth in inequality and poverty in the United Kingdom with Professor John Hills, author of 'Inequality' and the State and Professor Ruth Lister author of 'Poverty'.