Headlines assigning agency to the brain have been a prominent feature of our media landscape for almost two decades, with the brain being credited for everything from God and morals to our personalities and our chess moves. The brains of celebrated personalities from Lenin to Einstein have been analyzed for clues to political and scientific genius. Philosophers and neuroscientists, however, have begun to acknowledge that ‘the other’ and ‘culture’ must play a role in what the brain ‘does.’ Some, like philosopher John Searle and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, have been openly baffled by this challenge. Others, like psychiatrist/neuroscientist Leslie Brothers, have addressed this challenge brilliantly. Against this background I will consider what a sociologist can say about the brain and why this matters.