On working class pain and politics.
We talk to Jennifer Silva about her most recent book, and working class Americans' experience of and perspectives on pain. We discuss racial, gender and class identities and sense of relative losses and gains. If the American Dream has been 'stolen', how can the working class dream again? What are the prospects for socialist politics when distrust of politics predominates?
Scenario-planning for Bernie: what is success, what is productive failure? We attempt to "dream realistically" with Adam Proctor (Dead Pundits Society): how far can this wave of 'democratic socialism' go? Bernie will fail - he won't bring in socialism, so how do we make that failure something to build on? How do we avoid the risk of demoralisation? And most dangerous of all, how to not interpret failure as success?
Plus bonus stuff on Syriza, Brexit and talking in platitudes.
2018 saw a strike wave in the US, as anger was given material form. We talk to Eric Blanc about his book on the wave of teachers' strikes in otherwise 'conservative' states. How can this experience be broadened out to other sectors? Is education a site for future struggle? And what is the role of public opinion in trade union victories? We also try to recover some lost radical history of West Virginia and Oklahoma.
Readings:
In part three, we move from the Californian Ideology to talk about the Californian reality: class, suburbs and social mobility. We meet up with Joel Kotkin to discuss the new Californian class structure and the end of the Californian dream. Also, more bar chat, as friend of the podcast, Tim Abrahams, joins us to chat about the idea of LA, Californian urbanism and mobility.
#CaliBunga is a special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.
Readings:
Special multipart series on the Californian Ideology: the seemingly paradoxical hybrid of New Left and New Right ideas - the synthesis of hippies with yuppies, all tied together with the promise that technology might liberate us.
In part one, we talk to Richard Barbrook about the Californian Ideology today before discussing health and mental illness with the 'States of Wellness' group at UC Irvine (Catherine Liu, Benjamin Kruger-Robins, Michael Mahoney, Thomas Williams).
Thanks to UC Irvine School of Humanities for sponsoring this series.
Readings:
Subscribe: patreon.com/BungaCast
In which we delve into the gun control debate: are guns really essential for democracy? Plus, the 2018 UK university strike.
In which we chat new alt-media, the US left, and Trump's Middle East policy
In which we question the consequences of Charlottesville. Also, are statues just for collecting pigeon shit, and has Bannon 'bitten the shark'?
In which we scratch our heads at Russophobia. Plus, strong male role models: Engels, Putin, and the Night King(?!)
