Savage Minds

About Savage Minds

Investigative reporting and social commentary on public culture, the arts, science, and politics. www.savageminds.co (https://www.savageminds.co?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Savage Minds

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

10 Oct 2020

Latest episode

15 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

226 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Aug 2026

   Joanna Moncrieff

   Joanna Moncrieff, professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London, joins for a far-reaching discussion on depression, psychiatric diagnosis, antidepressants, the medical model of mental illness, and the expanding influence of psychiatry in contemporary society. Drawing on decades of clinical practice, research, and critical scholarship, Moncrieff challenges the assumption that mental disorders can be understood simply as underlying biological diseases and examines the evidence behind the widely repeated chemical imbalance theory of depression. The conversation explores the distinction between disease-centred and drug-centred approaches to psychiatric medication, the effectiveness and limitations of antidepressants, withdrawal, and the ways pharmaceutical interests have influenced psychiatric research and treatment. Moncrieff also considers the historical development of psychiatric interventions and the broader question of what happens when ordinary human experiences such as grief, distress, and social suffering become increasingly medicalised. The discussion moves beyond medication into questions of power, social control, and the changing boundaries of normality, drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of biopower and examining why psychiatric diagnoses have become increasingly prominent in public life. Vigo and Moncrieff also discuss ADHD, autism, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and the political and cultural implications of expanding psychiatric categories. Throughout, the conversation asks whether psychiatry should be understood primarily as a branch of medicine or as a discipline shaped by social values, institutional power, and contested ideas about human behaviour. The episode offers a sustained examination of what psychiatric diagnosis means, what psychiatric drugs actually do, and how mental distress might be understood beyond the conventional medical framework. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe (https://www.savageminds.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   23 Jul 2026

   Roger Hallam

   Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, and Insulate Britain, joins Julian Vigo on Savage Minds for a far-reaching discussion on climate breakdown, civil resistance, revolutionary politics, and the future of democratic society. Drawing on decades of activism, academic research, and firsthand experience as an organic farmer whose livelihood was devastated by extreme weather, Hallam argues that the climate crisis is inseparable from the structural failures of contemporary capitalism and that Western societies have entered a pre-revolutionary period. Julian Vigo challenges Hallam on the effectiveness of disruptive protest, the criminalisation of climate activism, the changing nature of the political left, and the contradictions exposed during the COVID-19 era regarding civil liberties, state power, and public participation. Their conversation moves beyond environmental policy into broader philosophical questions concerning historical revolutions, the psychology of mass mobilisation, the role of spirituality and meaning in political action, and whether existing democratic institutions are capable of responding to accelerating ecological collapse. Together, Vigo and Hallam examine why climate activism increasingly intersects with debates over freedom, political legitimacy, cultural identity, and social transformation, while reflecting on the tensions between reform and revolution, institutional politics and grassroots movements, and materialist analysis versus moral conviction. This episode offers an unflinching exploration of one of the defining political and ecological debates of the twenty-first century through an extended dialogue that challenges assumptions across the ideological spectrum. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe (https://www.savageminds.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   14 Jul 2026

   Robert Pape

   Robert Pape, professor of political science at the University of Chicago and founding director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, examines why modern military superiority so often fails to produce lasting political success. Drawing on decades of research into coercive air power, he argues that precision-guided warfare has fundamentally reshaped public expectations by creating the illusion that wars can be won quickly, cheaply, and with few casualties. Revisiting the lessons of Vietnam and the arguments developed in his landmark book Bombing to Win, Pape explains why tactical achievements frequently strengthen an adversary’s political resolve instead of compelling surrender. The conversation explores his concept of the “escalation trap (https://escalationtrap.substack.com),” in which battlefield successes steadily weaken a state’s broader strategic position by deepening political resistance and encouraging further military escalation. Applying this framework to the recent confrontation with Iran, Pape analyzes the strategic significance of the Strait of Hormuz, the limitations of coercive diplomacy, shifting regional power dynamics, and Washington’s declining credibility in the Middle East. He argues that effective strategy depends not on the destructive power of modern weapons but on understanding how military action interacts with political objectives, public opinion, and national resolve. Rather than viewing conflict through the lens of technological superiority alone, Pape contends that contemporary wars are ultimately decided by political outcomes, making strategic judgment far more important than tactical victories. The discussion offers a timely assessment of air power, deterrence, escalation, and the changing character of warfare in an increasingly unstable international system. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe (https://www.savageminds.co/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.5 / 5

49 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 57 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

94

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

Contact Savage Minds

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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