Social Studies

About Social Studies

Conversations about politics, media, social theory and other topics. leightonwoodhouse.substack.com (https://leightonwoodhouse.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Leighton Woodhouse

Category

science · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

15 Jul 2021

Latest episode

22 May 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 24 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   22 May 2026TRANSCRIPT

   RESCUED, a short film by me

   Leighton Woodhouse interviews Glenn Greenwald about their collaborative reporting on industrial animal abuse and the short film documenting a mass rescue of dogs from Ridglan Farms.

2. 

   15 Jan 2026

   Minneapocalypse

   I join my cohost Lee Fang for a podcast discussion around the violent confrontations in Minnesota and what it might mean for America. In short order, we discuss ethnic scapegoating, whether the federal government is truly focused on taxpayer fraud, and why this Trump presidency is fundamentally different from the first administration. Will there be an offramp to the crackdown? And we end with a discussion of Christian ethics and René Girard. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe (https://leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

3. 

   31 Jul 2025

   Former CIA Analyst Barry Eisler on Fiction Writing, the Deep State, and Power

   This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit leightonwoodhouse.substack.com (https://leightonwoodhouse.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7) Barry Eisler, (https://barryeisler.substack.com/) before becoming a best-selling novelist, worked in covert operations for the CIA. He joins Le Pod to discuss his career, the real-world inspirations for his work, and explains why fiction writing is more important than ever to understand the morally murky world of power politics and U.S. foreign policy. Eisler is on Substack and you can bu…

Inside a recent episode

RESCUED, a short film by me

Published 22 May 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] A beagle born at Ridgeland, you're gonna spend the rest of your life, 10 years, inside a two foot by four foot wire cage with one other beagle, endlessly circling fluorescent lights overhead 24-7, never touching grass, never seeing the sun, never going outside, getting hosed down once a week with a power washer. If you get tapped to be sent off to some kind of experiment, then you're basically going to be a pin cushion for some kind of research. until they run a lethal experiment on you and kill you. So it's gonna be basically increasing levels of invasive, painful experimentation up until the point that you're used out and they're just gonna kill and dissect you. […]

Who has been a guest on Social Studies

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Paul Kingsnorth
• Jake Klein
• Jared Klickstein
• Suzy Weiss
• Ethan Strauss

Reach and audience

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

YouTube views

104,040

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

23 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 35 / 100

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

Quality

17

Social presence

0

YouTube

82

Engagement

51

Contact Social Studies

Guest appearances

Books guests

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

Questions about Social Studies