News

How do stories help us understand the world?

books747x560
Book pages. Free-Photos. CC0 Creative Commons

‘How do stories help us understand the world?’ asks this month’s episode of the award-winning podcast, LSE IQ.

Narratives are all around us, from the TV shows we watch, the newspapers we read to the anecdotes we tell. But how do narratives shape our understanding of the world, ourselves and the people around us? Do they distort or clarify our view of reality?

In this episode, these questions will be tackled by Richard Bronk from the LSE European Institute, Professor Mary Morgan from LSE’s Department of Economic History and Professor Lib Taylor from the University of Reading’s Department of Film, Theatre & Television.

We want to warn you that the first section of the podcast touches on the issue of suicide and contains potentially upsetting descriptions. If you would prefer not to listen to this, you could forward to around the 12 minute mark and resume listening then.

Each episode of LSE IQ sees a range of LSE academics, and other experts, line up to give their perspective on one timely question. For all episodes of LSE IQ, and to subscribe on iTunes and SoundCloud, please visit www.lse.ac.uk/iq or search for 'LSE IQ' in your favourite podcast app, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.