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:
/381/ Contemporary Art: Inane Spectacle & Pompous Discourse, ft. JJ Charlesworth
Excerpt: /380/ Josephine’s Body Count
/379/ Sexy Pictures of Taylor Swift (Not Brexit)
Excerpt: /378/ Reading Club: Globalisation (II)
/377/ The Locked-Up Country ft. Shahar Hameiri & Tom Chodor
Excerpt: /376/ AufheBonus Bonus - Nov 2023
Excerpt: /375/ From Hyperliberalism to the Grayzone
/374/ You’re Gonna Need Representation ft. Vincent Bevins
Excerpt: /373/ Take a Stand: Be Neutral! ft. Lily Lynch
Excerpt: /372/ Reading Club: Globalisation (I)
/371/ The Milei Massacre Didn’t Happen ft. Ernesto Seman
/370/ Dead Ends in Israel & Palestine ft. Alex Gourevitch
/369/ Information-War and War-Politics ft. Jacob Siegel
/367/ Don’t Pay Them Back ft. Jerome Roos
/366/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (IV)
/365/ It’s So Over (Again) ft. Ryan Zickgraf
UNLOCKED: /361/ A Nightmare on the Brains of the Living ft. Benjamin Studebaker
Excerpt: /364/ The Eternal Sunshine of the Bourgeoisie
UNLOCKED: /351/ Eating the Left’s Lunch? ft. Cecilia Lero & Tamás Gerőcs
Excerpt: /363/ Outsourcing the State
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