On the achievement of democracy and the 'impartial' state.
We speak to sociologist Dylan Riley about his new book Microverses, a series of aphorisms on social theory and politics.
The rational-legal state seems to be under threat by politicians who have no sense of the division between public and private – patrimonialists like Donald Trump, or Silvio Berlusconi. What are we to make of this attack on the notion of office?
Anti-corruption politics is often the response, but what happens when the left positions itself as the defender of the 'impartial' bourgeois state – rather than its overthrower? And was democratic capitalism the achievement of a militant working class – or a concession made after the working class had already been disciplined by fascism and war?
The second half of the interview, and our After-Party, is available at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
/149/ It's Not Robots, It's Capitalism ft. Aaron Benanav / Liz Pancotti
Excerpt: /148/ Three Articles (September)
/147/ The Past Doesn't Go Away ft. Benjamin Moser
Excerpt: /146/ Class is Cancelled ft. Ben Tippet
/145/ The End of Conservatism ft. Julius Krein
Excerpt: /144/ Reading Club: New Social Movements
Excerpt: /143/ Aufhebonus Bonus (August)
/142/ Dollar Empire (2) ft. Daniel Bessner
/141/ Oh Lebanon, What Now? ft. Rima Majed
Excerpt: /140/ Three Articles: Right-Populism
/139/ Dollar Empire ft. Yakov Feygin & Dominik Leusder
Excerpt: /138/ Fuck, Abolish, Defund: The Police
Excerpt: /137/ Reading Club: War, Technology, The State
/136/ Banana Monarchy ft. David Edgerton
UNLOCKED /115/ Singapore Shangri-La ft. Lee Jones
Excerpt: /135/ Aufhebonus Bonus (June)
Excerpt: /134/ The Call - Afterparty
/133/ The Call ft. Krithika Varagur
/132/ Partial to Slavs ft. Lily Lynch
Excerpt: /131/ Reading Club: The PMC
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