Bungacast
/312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga State ft. Dylan Riley
This episode isn’t summarized yet
Create a free account and summarize it. In a few minutes you’ll have the key takeaways and a section-by-section summary.
Show notes
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:
- Microverses: Observations from a Shattered Present, Dylan Riley, Verso Books
- Seven Theses on American Politics, Dylan Riley & Robert Brenner, NLR
- Inflection Point (podcast), Dylan Riley & Robert Brenner, UC Berkley
- Safe Substitutes for Posting: review of Microverses, Harold Florida, Damage