#032: Is The PMC Delusional? (w/ Catherine Liu)

Max interviews author of the polemical book Virtue Hoarders, Catherine Liu, about the ways the so-called Professional-Managerial Class (PMC) uses fake empathy, mental health language, and superficial discourse on trauma to protect its material interests at the expense of lower wage workers. The mental health field itself is positioned within the PMC strata and tends to lack class consciousness - part of what sparked the creation of this very podcast. But the PMC as a whole appears to deny any class positionality to the point of dissociation so that it lives in a world of fantasy to explain society, making it "the most delusional class" according to Liu. Near the end, conversations about psychoanalysis and today's cognitive-behavioral "customer satisfaction survey" therapies turn into cackling and managed grief.

Catherine Liu is professor of film and media studies at the University of California, Irvine and the author of Virtue Hoarders: The Case against the Professional Managerial Class: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/virtue-hoarders

The Professional-Managerial Class w/ Catherine Liu | The Jacobin Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4WV7oswt3M

The Worst Class ft. Catherine Liu https://aufhebungabunga.podbean.com/e/176-the-worst-class-ft-catherine-liu/

Wiki's PMC definition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional-managerial_class

Catherine's references:

-Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer, Barbara Ehrenreich

-Coming Up Short: Working Class Adulthood in An Age of Uncertainty, Jennifer Silva

-We're Still Here: Pain and Politics in the Heart of America, Jennifer Silva

ATTENTION! This is a Boring Dystopia/Obligatory 'don't sue us' message: This podcast provides numerous different perspectives and criticisms of the mental health space, however, it should not be considered medical advice. Please consult your medical professional with regards to any health decisions or management.