Shows
Bungacast/531/ Interiorising the Border ft. Ryan ZickgrafOn ICE, Minneapolis – and your questions & comments.
Contributing editor Ryan Zickgraf is back from Minnesota and tells us what is happening on the ground. We also discuss:
If this was Trump picking a fight, why Minnesota?
Do the slayings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti mark a step-change in who can be killed in the US with relative impunity?
What are the implications for the 2nd Amendment and will this divide MAGA World?
Does a hard border necessarily entail a hard, militarised society too? Is the interiorisation of the bor...
2026-01-3055 minBungacast/503/ Effervescent Decadence in the Third ModernityOn the end of the end of history and what comes next.
Phil is back on the pod, talking with George and Alex about the big themes of the podcast. In particular, we look at a recent essay in Foreign Policy by historian Christopher Clarke called "The End of Modernity".
To what extent was the 1989 moment as significant in Beijing as Berlin?
Is Trump actually Stalin (but in a good way)?
Is Russia the revisionist power? And if so, in what regard and what are the consequences?
Who says...
2025-08-0133 minBungacast/500/ Disrupt, Decline, DecayWe celebrate 500 episodes of Aufhebunga Bunga with a cold, hard look at the decay around us.
Alex and George plus contributing editors Lee Jones and Alex Gourevitch wrangle with four principal questions:
What does it mean to say our era is one of decay or decline?
How does this relate to the non-death of neoliberalism – its intellectual destitution, its practical weakening, but also its mutation and perpetuation?
How does neoliberal decay relate to the decline of a unipolar world under total US hegemony, and the decline of the liberal globalist order?...
2025-07-221h 24Bungacast/499/ Shame! Shame on Bungacast! ft. Taylor HinesOn shame, guilt and responsibility.
Taylor Hines, an editor at Damage magazine, talks to George and Alex about his essay "Fool Me Twice" in Issue 4 of the magazine, which deals with the theme Responsibility.
Remember, subscribers to Bungacast get a complimentary online subscription to Damage!
We discuss:
Why is Robert Eggers' Nosferatu about shame? What about the Rape of Lucretia?
What can Frédéric Gros’ A Philosophy of Shame tell us?
What's the difference between shame and guilt?
Do psychoanalytic thinkers like Christopher Lasch and...
2025-07-1527 minBungacast/496/ Insane-Washing the War (Which Did Not Take Place)On the war on Iran that wasn't (yet).
Alex and George review the past month in the world and on Bungacast:
The crazy will-they-won't-they of a potential US war on Iran
The ex post facto justifications on all sides
Where does "sanewashing" come from
Ways to understand and not understand US political polarisation
And we deal with your questions and comments from the past month:
Woke Dungeons and Dragons
Being Safe versus Feeling Safe
More on victimhood, authenticity and the PMC
2025-06-3022 minBungacast/459/ Reading Club: Place 2 - AugéOn Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity
[For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast/membership]
We continue working through the 2024/25 syllabus with the first theme, The Future of Place, asking, is politics possible without a sense of place. We discuss Marc Augé's much-referenced 1992 work on 'non-places': airports, shopping malls, corporate hotels, motorways... We discuss:
Are non-places proliferating, and what would this mean for society and politics?
Are non-places the spatial accompaniment to post-politics, to the foreclosure of political contestation?
Is the distinction between non-places and places/spaces use...
2024-12-2005 minBungacast/427/ Why Do We Make Our Emotions Match the Market? ft. Eva IllouzOn emotional capitalism + Israeli politics.
Renowned sociologist Eva Illouz joins us to talk about her recent book on the emotions of populism, and her work on the sociology of emotions in general. We discuss:
Why have emotions become such a collective obsession?
Where can you buy emotional commodities? What are influencers really selling?
What emotions accompany victim culture?
How is identity and victimhood linked in a way that allow us never to forgive or forget?
Plus:
How has Netanyahu failed even on his own terms?
2024-07-301h 18Bungacast/396/ Enough Carnations? Portugal Decides, ft. Catarina PríncipeOn Portugal's elections, 50 years since the revolution
Catarina Príncipe, a long-time activist on the Portuguese left and a doctoral student of political economy, is back on the podcast to talk through what happened as Portugal went to the polls.
How does Portugal see itself, with regard to Europe, and its own history?
How did the right-populist Chega party break through amid high turnout?
What kind of anti-politics did Chega bring to the table?
Is there nostalgia for the dictatorship?
How did immigration become an issue in a country where emigration is the big problem?
What is going on with Po...
2024-03-271h 06Bungacast/400/ The Political Oppositions of the Next Decade ft. Frost, Gourevitch, Liu, PhillipsOn what comes next: in politics, ideas, economy, subjectivity
To commemorate seven years of the podcast and four-hundred episodes, we got all our new Contributors in to examine the oppositions and tensions that we think will characterise the next decade. We say hello to Amber A'Lee Frost, Alex Gourevitch, Catherine Liu, and Leigh Phillips.
For all Bungacast shows, including our Contributors, the Damage magazine episode, Reading Club and more, go to patreon.com/bungacast
Politics
Right-populism: insurgency or incorporation
The Left: engagement or reclusion
Multipolarity: opportunity or restriction
War: inertia or action
Industry & Economy
Work: precarity or militancy
Green Capitalism: indu...
2024-03-271h 59Bungacast/399/ From ADHD to Let Me Be (Emotion Sickness, pt III) [sample]On the withdrawal from hyperpolitics and hypermodernity.
[Patreon Exclusive]
What comes after a decade of populism? Alex Hochuli talks through his new essay in Damage, issue 2. This is episode is the third part of our Emotion Sickness series on the politics of feelings. Click here for part 1 and part 2.
If we are disengaging from politics, what is the associated feeling - resentment or resignation?
Why are our times "hypermodern" – and why is this exhausting?
What can the examples of the 'great resignation', 15-minute cities, and postliberalism all tell us about the ways people are withdrawing from...
2024-03-2215 minBungacastBig news: Bungacast is getting bigger, betterTurbulent times, ideological confusion. Politics is back, but it's stranger than ever. All the more reason for unflinching critique of the current moment. That's why Bungacast is expanding.
Regular contributors are coming on-board: Catherine Liu, Amber Frost, Alex Gourevitch, and Leigh Phillips
We're partnering up with Damage Magazine
There'll be many more exclusive episodes – see patreon.com/bungacast
And a new Reading Club, with new themes!
2024-03-1202 minBungacast/384/ Millennial Rule ft. Amber A'Lee Frost
On Dirtbag and the Millennial Left.
Bungacast regular Amber A'Lee Frost is back to talk about her new book, Dirtbag — part memoir, part critical essays on millennial socialism. In this episode we discuss:
Why "millennial"? Does it make sense to talk in generational terms?
What are the left's "perversions" as Amber sees them?
'Occupy' was all leaderless, horizontalist crap. Why did Amber stick around?
Bernie Sanders did not leave an organizational legacy – why?
After the failure of left-populism, in US and Europe, was it all worth it?
At patreon.com/bungacast we continue discussing the problems of DSA, as well a...
2024-01-231h 01BungacastExcerpt: /354/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (II)
On Jürgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis.
[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]
What made postwar capitalism 'organised'? And why did many believe it had overcome economic crisis?
In this second episode on Legitimacy, we go through part 2 of Habermas' book, where its main concerns reveal themselves. How does the role of the state in managing the economy transfer crises into the realm of politics and society? Bourgeois ideology seems pretty thin on its own and doesn't provide enough motivation, so what happens when traditionalism no longer holds sway? Is capitalism just hanging on by a thread: the thread of civic privatism?
Sign...
2023-07-2711 minBungacastExcerpt: /350/ Reading Club: Legitimacy (1)
On Jürgen Habermas' Legitimation Crisis.
[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive - sign up at patreon.com/bungacast]
We are in crisis, no doubt about that. But what kind? And what is the relation between economic, political and socio-cultural crisis?
In this first episode on Legitimacy, we go through part 1 of Habermas' book, to try to understand some key concepts: system integration versus social integration; what Habermas means by social systems and subsystems; and whether growing individuation makes us more or less prone to manipulation by the political command centre.
Join a local Reading Club. Email info@bungacast.com
2023-07-0415 minBungacast/338/ The Energy Theory of Everything ft. Matt Huber
On who owns the power.
Matt Huber joins us to discuss his article, "Socialist Politics and the Electricity Grid", and how organised labour is central to a politics of plenty. What is the grid and who owns it? What are the limitations of a "100% renewables" approach?
On the politics of energy, the left is divided in a similar way to the ruling class. How do we move from a strategy of 'blocking' (preventing new infrastructure) to one of 'building'? And why does a movement to limit climate change need to focus on production, rather than c...
2023-05-091h 15BungacastExcerpt: /330/ Reading Club: Freedom (2)On Martin Hägglund's This Life.
We continue on the theme of freedom. In this episode, we look at what Martin Hägglund describes as 'spiritual freedom', which can ultimately be seen as a question of what we do with our time. Across the two chapters in question, Hägglund ties together his philosophical vision rooted in the notion of mortality and temporal life, with a social critique that draws on Hegel and Marx. He does this by centring the question of time, the only truly scarce resource.
How can we negotiate anxiety-inducing freedom today? Whe...
2023-04-0214 minBungacastUNLOCKED! /319/ The Dead Left (II) ft. Steve Hall & Simon WinlowOn the left's understanding of freedom.
We continue our talk with Steve Hall and Simon Winlow, social scientists in the northeast of England, about their new book, The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin From the Beginning Again.
This is followed by the After Party, where we debate the extent to which Thatcher 'sold' freedom and what the left's understanding of liberty is.
To gain access to episodes like this that normally remain paywalled, subscribe to our patreon: patreon.com/bungacast
Part 1 is here: https://bungacast.podbean.com/e/318...
2023-03-0950 minBungacastExcerpt: /325/ Reading Club: Freedom (1)On Martin Hägglund's This Life.
[Patreon Tier II & III Exclusive]
We begin the 2023 Reading Club with the theme of FREEDOM. In this episode, we examine Martin Hägglund's arguments for secular faith presented in the first half of his book. Is Hagglund right in arguing that much of religious belief, especially in relation to morality, is actually motivated by secular faith?
Hägglund's enemy is not so much religion as the "Stoic" attempt to withdraw and detach from the temporal world. Instead we should be engaged and committed to the persons and pro...
2023-02-2812 minBungacast/324/ Reifying Race ft. Kenan Malik
On the mainstreaming of racial thinking.
We welcome back author and broadcaster Kenan Malik to talk about his new book, Not So Black and White. The book presents a historical account of how racial thinking has accompanied the spread of notions of equality and common humanity. How is it that many supposed humanitarians in the past were often racists?
And how have we reached a point where today, many liberals and supposed anti-racists sustain racial thinking? How have notions of global whiteness/blackness come to dominate the discourse?
We also discuss the 'post-liberal' c...
2023-02-2853 minBungacast/321/ Covid Dissensus ft. Toby Green & Thomas Fazi
On The Covid Consensus.
We're joined by two authors whose new book asks why lockdowns were adopted almost universally. National and transnational health authorities dropped pre-pandemic plans in favour of open-ended nationwide lockdowns which were to remain in place until vaccines were developed. Why this course of action?
And how to account for the unprecedented level of policy alignment across the majority of countries: was it coordination, imitation, or coercion?
In part two of the interview, we discuss the devastating impact of lockdowns on poor and middle-income countries where the informal economy is the norm.
For access, subscribe at patreon.com/bu...
2023-02-1456 minBungacast/318/ The Dead Left ft. Steve Hall & Simon Winlow
On the death of the left.
We talk to Steve Hall and Simon Winlow, social scientists in the northeast of England, about their new book, The Death of the Left: Why We Must Begin From the Beginning Again.
Is the left indeed dead, and what killed it? The turn to culture undoubtedly plays a part, but was the left wrong to turn to liberty, as Hall & Winlow argue? How can we turn back to political economy and what would that politics look like? And if there is to be a future radical movement for and by the working class, would so...
2023-01-311h 04Bungacast/316/ From Emergency to Emergency: 2022 Review, ft. Ashley Frawley
On the key events and developments in 2022.
We look back at how the world transitioned from the pandemic to war over the past year, and what the socio-political fallouts have been. Is everything "better than expected"? Has managerial technocracy been rejuvenated?
We discuss whether we're in a Third World War, how the US empire is strengthening its grip on Europe, and how cultural populists are taking over from economic populists.
Part two is available at patreon.com/bungacast
2023-01-2458 minBungacast/314/ Shallow & Wrongheaded Filmic Squabbles ft. Maren Thom & Alex DaleOn aesthetic criticism & performance.
The hosts of a new podcast on film, Performance Anxiety, join us to talk about how a focus on performance can break through endless squabbles over wokeness and representation in film.
We also discuss our best and worst films of 2022.
Part two of this episode is at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
Performance Anxiety podcast
The Greatest Films of All Time, Sight & Sound, BFI
The Radicalization of the Film Canon, Adrian Nguyen, Quillette
2023-01-1753 minBungacast/312/ Consolation-Prize Marxism & the Bunga-Bunga State ft. Dylan RileyOn 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...
2023-01-101h 04BungacastExcerpt: /308/ A Balance-Sheet of the Left
On the global left after the Cold War.
[Patreon Exclusive]
Has the left declined, been defeated, or is it dead? Is the continuity with the Old and New Lefts of the 20th century, or should we understand 1989 as marking a definitive break?
We use a long essay by Swedish Marxist sociologist Göran Therborn in the latest New Left Review as a plank to examine these questions. Therborn tries to present a synoptic analysis of where the left is, globally speaking, almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century. Is he right t...
2022-12-1311 minBungacast/305/ Techno-Feudal UnreasonOn "techno-feudalism".
In the Bungacast Reading Club for patrons, we've been discussing various works on "neo-feudalism" - a thesis that tries to explain capitalist stagnation and inequality by arguing that we are moving beyond capitalism – toward something worse.
In this free episode, we discuss one of the most thoroughgoing critiques of this thesis: Evgeny Morozov's "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason".
Why has this thesis becomes so popular today, across the political spectrum? What is the economic and political logic of feudalism, and how do current trends supposedly indicate a resurgence of these logics? Why have...
2022-11-291h 14Bungacast/303/ The Failure of the French Forever War ft. Yvan Guichaoua
On Mali and the Sahel.
French president Emmanuel Macron declared the end of Opération Barkhane on 9 November 2022, bringing to an end to nearly 10 years of French military intervention in Mali. But what is the legacy of the French Forever War in the Sahel, and what happens next?
Sahel expert Yvan Guichaou joins us to talk about French defeat in the war on terror, the continued French military presence in the region, the growing extent of jihadi power, as well as the crisis of the post-colonial state in Africa and the new geo-politics of Franco-Russian competition in the region. How do...
2022-11-2245 minBungacastOK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations (FULL)A special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
Previously released in 2021 only to subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast, a year on we're releasing the whole series to everyone.
Part 1: (00:00:00)
Part 2: (00:38:11)
Part 3: (01:07:54)
Part 4: (02:50:32)
Part 5: (03:59:24)
Part 1:
We look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages.
Guests include:
Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin
Jennie Bristow, sociologist at Canterbury Christ Church University
Joshua Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
Part 2:
2022-11-155h 04Bungacast/300/ Bunga at the End of the WorldOn nuclear exterminism.
To commemorate our 300th episode, we discuss how the world is closer to a nuclear conflict than at any point since the Cold War. After decades of inconsequential 'permawar' (at least inside the Western bubble), the proxy war in Ukraine between NATO and Russia is suddenly very consequential indeed.
How does our situation differ from that of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis? Why might it be more unpredictable? Does today's very different ideological configuration make war more or less likely?
Before that, we reflect on five and half years of Bungacast, h...
2022-11-021h 17BungacastBunga HolidayJust a short announcement about what's coming up, while we're off on summer holidays.
Subscribe to the podcast to support us and get two new, original, paywalled episodes a month ($5/mo). For $10/mo you also get access to the Reading Club. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2022-08-3001 minBungacast/273/ Eco-Leninism? [UNLOCKED]On the climate emergency.
We are specially unlocking this episode of our monthly Reading Club – the concluding episode of the first half of the 2022 syllabus (download it here). If you'd like full access to all of the Reading Club, go to patreon.com/bungacast
We discuss Andreas Malm's Climate, Corona, Chronic Emergency and Adam Tooze's review essay, "Ecological Leninism". How convincing is Malm's call for Soviet war communism as a model for responding to climate change?
We also approach these readings in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the knock-on consequences for...
2022-07-211h 19Bungacast/262/ The Useless Past ft. Matt KarpOn liberals' embrace of the past and history wars.
We talk to Matthew Karp about his essay, "History As End: 1619, 1776, and the politics of the past". It seems as if there's an ideological inversion going on, where liberals see history in terms of original sin and cycles of injustice, or at best, want to relitigate the past in order to fight battles of the present. Meanwhile conservatives have abandoned the past. What does this say about current attitudes to capital-h History and making the future?
Readings:
History As End: 1619, 1776, and the politics of the...
2022-05-1049 minBungacastExcerpt: /260/ Reading Club: Fear II - Furedi[Patreon Tier 2 Exclusive]
On Frank Furedi's How Fear Works.
Following on from last month's discussion of Corey Robin's Fear, we examine a differing attempt to demystify the politics and culture of fear.
To join a local Reading Club where you are, email info@bungacast.com
2022-04-2913 minBungacastExcerpt: /248/ Aufhebonus BonusIn which we respond to listener questions & criticisms.
A bumper episode, featuring plenty on Canadian truckers, Swedish populists, ideas of justice, hyperpolitics and much more.
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2022-03-1508 minBungacast/246/ Why Isn’t There Revolution? ft. Vivek ChibberOn class & material self-interest.
We talk to Vivek Chibber about his new book, The Class Matrix: Social Theory After the Cultural Turn, which seeks to answer why capitalism has proven remarkably stable. Vivek explains why classical Marxism does not need 'ideological supplements' to explain why there hasn't been revolution; instead, structural class theory already provides the answers.
We go back to basics, looking at the role of interests, debate what the real role of ideology is (not 'false consciousness'), and look at why particularism, rather than the universal collectivism of class, now dominates.
Pa...
2022-03-081h 03BungacastExcerpt: /245/ Reading Club: Emergency Politics II - AgambenOn Giorgio Agamben's State of Exception (2005).
How did a darling of the left during the War on Terror become a resource for the right during Covid? Is Agamben right to blur the boundary between fascism and liberal democracy? And if we are in a 'permanent state of exception', what is the right response?
And we discuss your questions.
The full episode is for $10+ subscribers. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Other links:
The Crisis of the Crisis: Is Covid politics the real emergency?, Geoff Shullenberger, The New Atlantis
2022-03-0710 minBungacast/244/ Bunga NYC: Live Debate ft. Adam ToozeOn The End of the End of History
On 22 February 2022, at The People's Forum in Manhattan, Alex Hochuli and Adam Tooze were in conversation on the themes of the Bunga book and what comes next. The event was moderated by Christie Offenbacher (Damage Magazine).
Buy the book: linktr.ee/bungacast
2022-03-011h 26Bungacast/242/ Bureaucracy Rules OK ft. Michael LindOn class wars, new and old.
Michael Lind, Professor of Practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, joins us to talk about what it might take to restore working class power in Western states. He explains some of the arguments in his book The New Class War (2020) in greater depth, as well as discussing his intellectual debt to the ex-Trotskyist theorist turned Cold War conservative, James Burnham.
Plus, Michael talks about how his Texan background and upbringing shaped his outlook on industrialisation, national development and populism.
Part two: https://www.p...
2022-02-221h 03Bungacast/238/ Reading Club: Emergency Politics I (Extended Excerpt)On Carl Schmitt's Political Theology (1922).
We ask why people are scared of sovereignty – as opposed to state power per se, and analyse what is significant about the way in which Schmitt defines sovereignty. And what is the meaning of 'political theology'?
And we discuss your questions.
This is an extended excerpt of the first 30 mins of the episode. For the full thing, go to patreon.com/bungacast
Other links:
The shibboleth of sovereignty, Martin Loughlin and Stephen Tierney, Modern Law Review, 2008 (pdf)
The Fed policy error that should worry investors, John...
2022-01-2832 minBungacastExcerpt: /237/ Three Articles: Italy, Ukraine, Matrix
We take on Italy's election of a new president and what that tells us about permanent crisis, the EU and the curtailing of democracy; we ask how serious the risk of war in Ukraine actually is; and review a film we haven't seen.
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
3 Articles:
As war looms larger, what are Russia’s military options in Ukraine?, The Economist
How the EU destroyed Italian democracy, Thomas Fazi & Paolo Cornetti, Unherd
Boringly postmodern and an ideological fantasy, Slavoj Zizek, The Spectator
Others:
Chartbook #70 Draghi for President?, Adam Tooze, Substack
How se...
2022-01-2507 minBungacastExcerpt: /236/ Green Nazi Paedos ft. Lily Lynch
On the German Greens' shady history.
Journalist Lily Lynch, editor of Balkanist, joins us to talk about her recent investigations into the Green Party, who are now back in power in Germany.
The 68ers attempted to combat authoritarianism and Nazi legacies through sexual liberation, building on the work of Wilhelm Reich. How did this lead some small groups associated with the Greens to advocate paedophilia – and even to accept former Nazis into their ranks?
Later the Greens would fully embrace war. We discuss how their emphasis on "maturity" and multilateral humanitarianism became the means through which they justified their new hawki...
2022-01-1808 minBungacast/235/ Political Ritalin ft. Anton Jäger
On our current attention-deficit and hyperpolitical disorder.
In our book, The End of the End of History, we discuss the move from post-politics to anti-politics; from consensus to rejection; from apathy to anger. In a new article, Anton Jäger argues we've now moved into a hyperpolitical age. Is everything being politicised...except the really important stuff?
We discuss some examples of hyperpolitics in Europe and North America and ask if what's going on is just a hot culture war, or something bigger. And what are the risks of an actual civil war in France or the US?
Reading:
How the W...
2022-01-111h 18BungacastGrand Reset
Bungacast is back for 2022, refreshed and reloaded.
We've got a completely revamped Reading Club, arranged along three themes: Emergency Politics & Control; Cynical Ideology; and Techno-Feudalism.
And there will be plenty of deep dives on national politics around the globe and discussions of big ideas with top guests.
Buy The End of the End of History
Subscribe on Patreon
Follow us on Facebook (and after clicking like, select us as favourites)
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
2022-01-0505 minBungacastExcerpt: /234/ Three Articles: Restoration?
On Millennial homeowners, the USA falling apart, and restoration in the UK.
As better-off 30-somethings start to get on the property ladder, does this put paid to 'Generation Left'? Will American decline be accompanied by a second civil war - as China serenely watches on? And does Britain represent a return to the 'End of History'? Is everything becoming boring again?
This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Articles:
Millennials Are Supercharging the Housing Market, Nicole Friedman, WSJ (attached)
A tale of two elites in Washington and Beijing, Gideon Rachman, FT (a...
2022-01-0410 minBungacastExcerpt: /233/ Aufhebonus Bonus
For the last time in 2021, we take your questions, comments and criticisms.
As always, lots of debate about Covid - and we start by remarking upon a possible u-turn on the issue on the British left.
Answer the Bungacast Listeners' Survey: surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9
Buy the Bunga book: linktr.ee/bungacast
This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-12-2109 minBungacastExcerpt: /232/ Reading Club: Cold, Hard / Warm, Soft
On Eva Illouz's Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism
How has the cold and hard world of bureaucratic, instrumental rationalism penetrated the intimate sphere of love and relationships? And how has open communication and emotional understanding been used to advance economic interests?
––
We want to hear what you're thinking: fill out our Bunga Listeners' Survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9
––
This is a free sample. For the full episode, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-12-2013 minBungacastExcerpt: /230/ Repetition Compulsion ft. Doug Lain, pt. 2
On the left outflanked.
We continue our discussion with Douglas Lain, formerly of Zer0 Books and now of Diet Soap Media. Has the left been overtaken by events - yet again? And we propose a typology of a left divided between progressives, populists and Marxists – progressives who are authoritarian, populists who are opportunists, and Marxists who are lonely.
Hey listener - why not tell us how you see Bunga and the world? Fill out our listener survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NN6SPD9
Links:
Diet Soap Media: Patreon | YouTube
OK Bunger! The Problem of Generations
This is an excer...
2021-12-1402 minBungacastExcerpt: /227/ Reading Club: All That Is Solid
On modernity's contradictions.
In this month's Reading Club, we discuss the introduction to Marshall Berman's marvellous All That Is Solid Melts Into Air.
This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe for $10/mo at patreon.com/bungacast
Can we revive, as Berman intends, the truly dialectical, 19th century attitude to modernity? What value is there in talking about "modernity" rather than “capitalism”? And how to we recognise possibilities for transcending today's impasses, where the question of "modernity" isn't even on the table?
The final Reading Club of 2021 will be on Eva Illouz's Cold Intimacies.
2021-11-2911 minBungacast/225/ Wokeistan & Lebanonworld ft. Karl SharroOn sectarianism & identitarianism.
Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) is back on Bunga to talk to us about his essay "The Retreat from Universalism in the Middle East and the World".
Lebanon has been used as a model for other Middle Eastern countries, even though its confessional system is a disaster. But Lebanese-style sectarianism isn't a form of 'feudal' backwardness – in fact it represents a precursor of the multicultural and identitarian politics in the West.
Who are the enemies of universalism today, East and West? And what sort of political projects are capable of rejuvenating secular un...
2021-11-161h 12BungacastExcerpt: /224/ Three Articles: Labour Revolts?
On rising wages after the pandemic.
Workers are quitting their jobs and not going back. Restricted supply is seeing wages go up. Does this signal a new militancy, or are workers just deciding to make do with less? How has the pandemic shaped people's outlooks?
Articles:
Wages are surging across the rich world, The Economist
The Revolt of the American Worker, Paul Krugman, NYT
US Workers Are in a Militant Mood, Alex N. Press, Jacobin
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-11-0906 minBungacastExcerpt: /221/ Reading Club: Truth About Class
This month we discuss GM Tamas' essay "Telling the Truth About Class" published in the Socialist Register. Is Tamas' division between Marxist and Rousseauian socialism useful? Does it help us to understand the Left today? And is Tamas right that "authentic proletarian revolution... has never occurred in its anti-capitalist purity anywhere"?
Reading Clubs are for patrons $10+, sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Additional readings:
Why the left must abandon the myth of British decline, David Edgerton, New Statesman
Ellen Meiksins Wood on the Nairn-Anderson thesis and the Bourgeois paradigm, Verso Books blog
2021-10-2803 minBungacastExcerpt: /220/ Aufhebonus Bonus
Responding to your questions, comments & criticisms.
It's a big mailbag this time round, including plenty on Covid (lockdowns, vaccines, etc), incels and dating culture, breaking out of neoliberalism's clutches, and much much more.
––
Bungacast will be live in New York on 19 November. Come see Alex Hochuli in conversation with Adam Tooze & Amber A'Lee Frost. Tickets at Eventbrite
––
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-10-2605 minBungacastExcerpt: OK Bunger! The Problem of Generations, pt. 5The fifth and final part of a series on generational consciousness and conflict.
This is an excerpt. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
In this episode, we examine the Millennials and Generation Z. Uniquely, generation war today seems to be a conflict over resources more than over values. Is there any basis for this, and what do Millennials actually want? With generational and class conflict seemingly bound together today, we analyse 'Generation Left' and 'Millennial Socialism'. And we ask what the effect of the pandemic may be on the creation of a...
2021-10-2220 minBungacastExcerpt: OK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 3
The third in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
This is an excerpt. For the full 1h40min episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
In this episode, we examine the Baby Boomers – myth and reality. The revolt of the '60s has been misunderstood in many dimensions. Was it betrayed or did it always express capitalist ideology? Were the Boomers the ones who really did the 1960s anyway? And what world have the Boomers created as they passed through life – and institutions?
Guests include:
Jennie Bristow, senior lecturer in sociology at Canterbury Christ Church University
Helen Andrews, senior...
2021-10-0523 minBungacast/218/ Stability Über Alles ft. Wolfgang StreeckOn German's elections – and the costs of stability.
Wolfgang Streeck is back on the podcast to round-up Germany's elections last Sunday (26 September). What's behind the emphasis on continuity and competence? Is Germany stuck in the 2000s?
We also discuss the importation of US-style culture wars into Germany, the country's role in the Eurozone, and strategic relations with France.
The second part of the conversation – where we debate the end of neoliberalism and capitalist crisis – is over at patreon.com/bungacast.
Readings:
Will it Be Enough?, Wolfgang Streeck, Sidecar
“Order” Prevails in Berlin...
2021-09-3057 minBungacastOK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 2The second in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we look at the emergence of 'youth' as political concept in the age following the French Revolution, and its shifting meanings. How important was generational consciousness in the Young Italy movement and its imitators in the 19th century, and how should we understand the so-called 'Lost Generation' of 1914?
Guests include:
Niall Whelahan, Chancellor’s Fellow in History, Strathclyde University
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
Leimoti / Don't Leave It Here / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com...
2021-09-2829 minBungacastExcerpt: /217/ Reading Club: Intersectional Stalinism
This month's Reading Club is on Mike McNair's "Intersectionalism, the highest stage of western Stalinism?" from the journal Critique (pdf attached on Patreon).
How convincing is his genealogy in which he traces intersectionalism back to the 1930s Popular Front and 1960s soft Maoism? What function does intersectionalism play on the Left - and for the ruling class? And is McNair right that intersectionalism is self-defeating on its own terms? Or is it self-perpetuating?
Bungacast's monthly Reading Clubs are for subscribers $10+
Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-09-2404 minBungacastOK BUNGER! The Problem of Generations, pt. 1The first in a special five-part series on generational consciousness and conflict.
In this episode, we look at the current, vexed discourse around generations, and analyse competing theories on how to understand generational cleavages.
Guests include:
Felix Krawatzek, political scientist at the Centre for East European and International Studies in Berlin
Jennie Bristow, sociologist at Canterbury Christ Church University
Joshua Glenn, semiotician, author, and publisher of HiLoBrow
Original music by: Jonny Mundey
Additional music:
Peter Kuli / OK Boomer / courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group, Inc.
Liru / For the...
2021-09-2138 minBungacastExcerpt: /215/ Organize the Incels?! ft. Alex Gendler
On the long history of involuntary celibates.
Alex Gendler talks to us about his essay in American Affairs, "The New Superfluous Men". With growing global concern about incels and increasing anti-terrorism focus on the supposed risks posed by lonely, angry men, we discuss why this discussion has emerged today and why it's gone global.
Why do our societies seem no longer to find use for young men? Do they benefit from patriarchy? And how does this all relate to class?
The full episode is available to subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-09-1407 minBungacast/213/ The Leopard Lockdown ft. Adam ToozeOn Covid and the end of the end of history.
Adam Tooze joins us to discuss his new book, Shutdown. In 2020 everything changed... so that everything might remain the same.
What were the reasons behind the global shutdown? Was it a result of over-protection, a policy of repression, or the result of structural tensions? Has China been the winner of the pandemic? How have central banks been victims of their own success? And does this represent the end of neoliberalism?
The latter part of the interview continues over on patreon.com/bungacast
2021-09-071h 02BungacastExcerpt: /212/ Three Articles: Middle-Class Anxieties
On net-zero, CCP nanny state, and optimised dating.
We start off discussing the HBO series "The White Lotus" before tackling three articles on middle-class anxieties: climate change and pressures on UK living standards; the Chinese state's crackdown on private tutoring; and women's attempt to avoid crappy men through 'Female Dating Strategy'.
The full episode is available to patrons only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Articles:
Boris Johnson’s push for net zero plunged into chaos, Edward Malnick & Emma Gatten, The Telegraph (attached in patreon)
China’s nanny state: why Xi is cracking down on gaming and private tutors, Tom Mitchel...
2021-08-3107 minBungacastExcerpt: /210/ Reading Club: Psychoanalysis & Spirit of Capitalism
We discuss Eli Zaretsky's essay, "Psychoanalysis and the Spirit of Capitalism" (also available as a chapter in his book Political Freud).
How convincing is Zaretsky’s idea that, as capitalism was becoming more organized and systematic, it also liberated relations between the sexes and enhanced a sense of individual subjectivity?
Was Freudianism a victim of its success? Did it ‘win’ and thereby make itself obsolete - socially if not intellectually? And what is today’s "spirit of capitalism"? Are we still within the spirit that was reshaped in the 1960s - the world of the New Left?
Reading Clubs are only for pa...
2021-08-2106 minBungacastExcerpt: /209/ Aufhebonus Bonus + Kabul Falls
On the Fall of Kabul, plus responding to your questions & comments.
On this Aufhebonus Bonus, we take your critical comments on 'positive biopolitics' and authoritarian responses to Covid. Plus, whether neoliberalism is really ending, the usefulness of using 'PMC' or 'clerisy', and much more.
We start by discussing what's happening in Afghanistan, the 20 years of failure, and what happens next.
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at pateron.com/bungacast for access.
2021-08-1708 minBungacast/207/ Pangolin vs Lobster, pt 1 ft. Paolo GerbaudoWhat comes after neoliberalism - the protective state?
We talk to Paolo Gerbaudo about his new book, The Great Recoil, in which Paolo argues we are now turning inwards – globalisation is no longer a sea of opportunity and instead fear dominates. How convincing is his notion of an emerging 'protective state', and do either the left or right variants of it really promise us much at all?
Part two of the interview is available for subscribers only. Sign up and listen at patreon.com/bungacast
Links:
The Great Recoil, Verso Books
On t...
2021-08-1059 minBungacastExcerpt: /206/ Three Articles: Post-Liberalism
On post-liberalism: loving the state, crushing the individual?
For this 3A, articles from different 'conservative' outlets - but how conservative, and of what kind?
Articles:
The real danger is insurgency on the right, William Hague, The Times (pdf attached in patreon)
To curse social media is to exonerate society, Janan Ganesh, FT (pdf attached in patreon)
We are all Britney now, Mary Harrington, Unherd
Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-08-0307 minBungacast/204/ Three Articles: People's Republic of FleeingOn Chinese investment, Swiss democracy, and fleeing from Afghanistan.
In this Three Articles, we discuss flight or departure in various ways: China opening the gates for its huge savings to spill onto world markets; Switzerland leaving (or remaining outside) the EU; and the US's sudden departure from Afghanistan, without telling anyone.
'Three Articles' episodes are normally for subscribers only - but this one's free. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast for regular access.
London book launch/bunga party: Register here
Articles:
What happens if Chinese household wealth is unleashed on t...
2021-07-2045 minBungacastExcerpt: /203/ Positive Biopolitics? ft. Benjamin Bratton
On pandemic & post-pandemic politics.
We talk to Benjamin Bratton about his new book, The Revenge of the Real, and its argument for a "positive biopolitics". What does an "epidemiological view of society" look like, and why should we let go of the idea that unmediated social relations are the most authentic kind? We touch on the work of Foucault and Agamben and why they are or aren't relevant to our conditions and critique "boomer theorists".
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Come to our book launch in London.
Readings:
The Rev...
2021-07-1309 minBungacastExcerpt: /202/ 3 Articles: Clerisy, War, FootballIn our latest 3A, we discuss "the clerisy" and how it relates to the PMC; how the EU is doing forever war just as much as the US; and the hyper-commodification of football.
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Articles:
Did Populism Start A 21st Century Anti-Clerical Revolution?, Angela Nagle, Substack
Interview with Wolfgang Streeck: The EU’s war in Africa, Jonas Elvander, Brave New Europe
Cursed and compromised but Euro 2020’s irresistible circus rolls on, Barney Ronay, The Guardian
2021-07-0608 minBungacastExcerpt: /201/ Reading Club: The New Class WarWe discuss Michael Lind's The New Class War.
Lind identifies new lines in the class war, between working class and managerial overclass, between those in the "heartlands" and those in the "hubs". How convincing is this account? What is his critique of technocratic managerialism and its symptom, populism? How convincing - and realistic - is his solution of "democratic pluralism"? And is this only achievable as a result of a new cold war with China?
Reading Clubs are for higher-tier subscribers only. Sign up for $10/mo for full access: patreon.com/bungacast
2021-07-0207 minBungacastExcerpt: /199/ Aufhebonus Bonus (June)
We take your questions, comments & criticisms.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On this Aufhebonus Bonus, we discuss whether unions are still capable of fighting for their members; the Arab-Israeli conflict at the End of History; a lot more on the 'PMC debate'; plus: whether Phil is "reductionist in the service of his own prejudices".
2021-06-2208 minBungacastRE-RELEASE: /100/ What Was the End of History? ft. Many GuestsIn the lead-up to our 200th episode later this month, we're exceptionally re-releasing our 100th episode special this week.
On the 30 years since 1989.
For our 100th episode, we invited our favourite guests to reflect on the question: “What one event, personal or political, most captures for you the past thirty years, since 1989?”
Are we still living in the death throes of the 20th century, or is something new emerging?
Guests:
(00:07:42) - Maren Thom
(00:14:14) - David Broder
(00:21:33) - Ashley Frawley
(00:26:11) - Catherine Liu
(00:33:05) - Angela Nagle
(00:40:49) - Benjamin Fogel
(00:46:25) - Alex Gourevitc...
2021-06-151h 44BungacastExcerpt: /197/ Reading Club: The BreakawayWe discuss the third and final in the series of Perry Anderson essays on the EU in the London Review of Books, "The Breakaway", and wonder if the EU can - despite its crises - just carry on indefinitely.
Reading Clubs are for monthly subscribers $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-06-1006 minBungacastExcerpt: /196/ Cosmopolitan Dystopia
On atrocity and sovereignty.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
The disasters of Iraq, Libya, Syria and beyond are there for all to see. Why hasn't an emphasis on Human Rights led to fewer atrocities? How has Western intervention made the world a less safe place?
We discuss Philip's book Cosmopolitan Dystopia: International Intervention and the Failure of the West and discover that no one really defends sovereignty today. What's behind the concept of 'Responsibility to Protect' (R2P)? And should we understand it as a form of "liberal imperialism"?
2021-06-0808 minBungacastExcerpt: /194/ Anti-Politics & Non-MovementsOn global insurrection and identity politics.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
We discuss an essay by the ultra-left collective 'Endnotes' that deals with the same political questions as we do, but comes up with different answers. Are the fragmented and ephemeral movements that have taken to the streets in France, Chile and the US, for example, the future of politics? Anti-political rejections of the establishment seem radical, but can they overcome their own negativity? And are identity politics the necessary form that re-politicisation has taken?
Readings:
Essay discussed
Onward Barb...
2021-05-2508 minBungacastExcerpt: /191/ Reading Club: Ever Closer Union?We discuss the second of Perry Anderson's three LRB essays on the making and unmaking of the EU: "Ever Closer Union?"
Our monthly Reading Club is for patrons $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-05-1004 minBungacast/189/ Pink Tide Paradoxes ft. Fabio LuisOn Latin America's progressive wave and its discontents.
A new book on Latin America argues that 'pink tide' governments tried to treat the symptoms of neoliberal capitalism while allowing the underlying situation to worse. We talk to the author, Fabio Luis, about cases across the region, including the election in Ecuador and Venezuela's disaster, to Bolivia's coup and Argentina's "path of least resistance". How important is regional integration and what does an alternative socialist vision entail? And we ponder a sad question: is the dream of development and modernisation over?
Readings:
Power and Impotence: A...
2021-04-271h 23BungacastExcerpt: /188/ The Huge Package State pt. 2 ft. Anton JägerOn the end of the End of History and neo-feudalism.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
In a continuation of our discussion on the emerging transfer state, we ask whether the end of neoliberalism entails the end of the 'End of History'. What are the determinate features of the End of History that we are leaving behind? Which are still with us?
Also, what to make of arguments that our future is neo- or techno-feudal? Do these terms make any sense? Or is it better to think...
2021-04-2006 minBungacast/187/ The Huge Package State ft. Anton JägerOn cash welfarism and state investment. Plus regionalism in Belgium & the UK.
Anton Jäger is back on the pod to discuss the emerging 'transfer state'. We examine Biden's massive trillion-dollar spending plans and ask if this means we're leaving neoliberalism. What are the limitations to the 'cashification of welfare'? Also comparisons with cash transfers or lack thereof in the UK, Brazil and Belgium.
Plus Anton talks us through recent Belgian history and why its immobilism and bureaucracy has actually prevented a full-on neoliberal assault.
[Part 2 available at patreon.com/bungacast]
Re...
2021-04-201h 03Bungacast/186/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Lee Jones
On Covid state failure + responses to listeners.
The full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
We start off by discussing listener points and criticisms – e.g. is PMC a useful category? Is a counterculture a terrible idea? Were we wrong on Deleuze? More on the lockdown debate... – before featuring the second part of our discussion with Lee Jones on the coronavirus and state failure (from 45:30).
We look in depth at what went wrong in Western state responses to the pandemic, why they didn't follow their own plans, and compare this to South Korea's relative success.
Readings...
2021-04-1307 minBungacastExcerpt: /184/ Reading Club: The European CoupWe discuss the first of Perry Anderson's new essays on Europe published in the London Review of Books, which focuses on Luuk van Middelaar - described as the EU's first organic intellectual. We discuss what that means, as well as the role of the "coup" in forming the EU.
Reading Club episodes are for subscribers $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-04-0203 minBungacastExcerpt: /183/ Acid Bunga Bunga ft. Mike Watson
On memes and the counter-culture.
This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Theorist and curator Mike Watson advances the argument for "acid leftism". What is this, and why do we need a new counter-culture? Is contemporary leftism lacking a utopian imaginary?
Plus: slow memes and fast memes; the democratisation of art and media; and generations: which ones became conservative, which one might not?
Running order:
(00:04:15) - Interview with Mike Watson
(01:02:00) - 'Afterparty' discussion on what a counter-culture might look like today
Readings:
Can the Left Learn to Meme? , Mike Watson, Zero Books
The Acid Left...
2021-03-3005 minBungacastExcerpt: /182/ Three Articles: Sporno-Vaxxo-Techno-Populism
In this latest Three Articles, we examine the rise of 'techno-populism', look at the EU's vaccine debacle, and question whether cinema - and popular culture in general - is being desexualised and pornified at the same time.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
The rise of the technopopulists, Chris Bickerton, New Statesman (pdf attached)
Accelerating Decay, Wolfgang Streeck, Sidecar - NRL blog
Everyone is beautiful and no one is horny, RS Benedict, BloodKnife
2021-03-2304 minBungacastExcerpt: /179/ The Hobbyist Left ft. David Swift
How to address the political problems of leftwing parties today?
Liverpudlian historian David Swift argues that the problem is hobbyism - people for whom politics constitutes their identity rather than expressing their interest in social and political change. He joins us to take us through his arguments about hobbyism, and how he thinks the Left might change for the better.
This is a sample. For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
A Left For Itself, David Swift, Zer0 Books
How the Left lost all purpose, James Bloodworth, Unherd
How not to be a white anti-racist, David Sw...
2021-03-0206 minBungacast/173/ Reading Club: Left Case for Brexit (UNLOCKED)We've exceptionally unlocked one of our recent Reading Clubs. For access to all the monthly Reading Clubs - as well as our ~2 patreon episodes a month - subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast for $10.
––
On Richard Tuck's The Left Case for Brexit, a book composed of essays written throughout the Brexit process, providing a diary of Brexit of sorts, as well as political and historical arguments around sovereignty.
We also take the opportunity to debate its global implications - what are the possibilities for popular sovereignty in a globalised world?
On the final...
2021-03-011h 29BungacastExcerpt: /178/ Reading Club: Societies of ControlWe discuss Gilles Deleuze's short essay, Postscript on the Societies of Control and ask whether his understanding, according to which society has changed from one where discipline is exercised in institutions to one where control is implemented across society, holds water.
The monthly Bungacast Reading Club is for patrons $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
2021-02-2604 minBungacastExcerpt: /177/ AufheBonus Bonus ft. Catherine Liu
We respond to your questions and comments from the past two months. Plus a continuation of our chat with Catherine Liu (from 55mins onwards) - on PMC unions, PMC child-rearing and the culture industry.
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Readings:
The PMC Gets Organized, Dominic King, Damage
Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional-Managerial Class, Catherine Liu, University of Minnesota Press, 2021
2021-02-2309 minBungacastExcerpt: /175/ Psychoanalysis Against Adaptation ft. Benjamin Fong
On the relevance of psychoanalysis.
In a continuation of our talk with Benjamin Fong, editor of Damage Magazine, we discuss the relevance of psychoanalysis today. What happened to the marriage of Marx and Freud – and what does the decline of both say about our times? We criticise social media as the latest instance of the culture industry as well as the growth of the US as a 'drugged society'. How can psychoanalysis be wielded against therapy culture, against a psychology that just helps us adapt to the world, and in favour one that makes us more free?
2021-02-0903 minBungacastExcerpt: /171/ Fukuyama & the End of History ft. Daniel Bessner
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
If liberal democracy has been dethroned, what next?
Francis Fukuyama famously declared the "end of history" in 1989. Has he been misunderstood? Should we understand the declaration in a geopolitical sense - liberal democracy triumphant - or in a more philosophical sense? We discuss what capital-H History means and what Fukuyama's career trajectory can tell us about our times. Is it capitalism realism or the end of history?
2021-01-1908 minBungacastExcerpt: /170/ Reading Club: Streeck's Critical EncountersThis is a sample. Reading Clubs are for patrons $10+. Sign up now at patreon.com/bungacast
This month we discuss a book by leading German sociologist and public intellectual, Wolfgang Streeck. Critical Encounters is a compilation of book reviews, discussing neoliberal ideas, politics and economy.
We start off by discussing the value of reading books in today's noisy, social media-filled, locked-down climate, as well as what makes a good book review. Then we address five themes: the coming of post-industrial society; popular misconceptions about neoliberalism; German hegemony in Europe; Cosmopolitan delusions; and the future of c...
2021-01-1507 minBungacastExcerpt: /166/ Aufhebonus Bonus (December)This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
We round off the year by previewing The End of the End of History and responding to your questions and criticisms, including Strasserism or left-conservatism, revolutionary memories, more on Covid and lockdowns, and other bits.
2020-12-1505 minBungacastExcerpt: /164/ Reading Club: Culture of NarcissismThis is a short sample. Full episode is available for subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast
We re-evaluate Christopher Lasch's hugely influential and prescient The Culture of Narcissism. What conjunctural factors led Lasch to his insights, and to what extent are those still present? Lasch wrote during the collapse of postwar Fordist-Keynesian model – is it the collapse of neoliberalism today that makes the book so evocative? And if narcissism has only increased, does the book suggest any political ways-out?
2020-12-0405 minBungacast/163/ Three Articles + Censorship ft. Douglas LainOn censorship, platform capitalism and the Left.
We talk to Douglas Lain of Zer0 Books about YouTube taking down their video as a result of the algorithm flagging its content – and what this means for free speech.
Then, this month's Three Articles on war, conspiracy theory, and Covid (patrons only - sign up at patreon.com/bungacast)
Links for part 1:
Why Did YouTube censor us? Doug Lain's blog post
Censored YouTube video: Christopher Lasch, Paul Sweezy, and the Great RESET
Bungacast ep 103 on ethical capitalism
Bungacast ep 112 on ideology of Silicon Valley
Alex...
2020-12-0124 minBungacastExcerpt: /161/ Culture Is Bad For You ft. Mark Taylor
Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On “culture”.
We discuss who produces culture and who consumes it – and what those inequalities reveal about culture today. Also, we ask what’s the ploblem with culture anyway and end up defending “low culture” from Red Hot Chili Peppers (well, sorta) to food guys.
Reading:
Culture is Bad for You, Orian Brook, Dave O'Brien and Mark Taylor, Manchester UP
2020-11-1705 minBungacastExcerpt: /158/ Three Articles: Cosmopolitan Austerity & ControlFull episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
In this latest Three Articles, we discuss cosmopolitanism, the end of austerity (maybe?) and social control in the pandemic.
Readings:
Is cosmopolitanism our destiny?, Aris Roussinos, Unherd
Meet the Philosopher Who Is Trying to Explain the Pandemic, Christopher Caldwell, NYT
Global economy: the week that austerity was officially buried, Chris Giles, FT
2020-11-0306 minBungacastExcerpt: /157/ Reading Club: Emancipation After HegelThis is a sample. For full access, go to patreon.com/bungacast
This month we discuss Todd McGowan's Emancipation After Hegel: Achieving a Contradictory Revolution - an introduction to, defence and radical re-interpretation of Hegel emphasising the importance of contradiction to thought and being. We try to tease out the political consequences of the book, focusing on authority, freedom, and identity.
2020-11-0112 minBungacastExcerpt: /155/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Benjamin MoserFull episode for subscribers only. Go to patreon.com/bungacast
We start off by discussing the beheading of a French teacher for having shown his pupils the Mohammed cartoons in a class on free speech. Then we discuss your points, questions and criticisms from September and October (on class politics, antifa, Covid, unemployment and more). Finally, 25 minutes of bonus content from our chat with Sontag biographer Benjamin Moser on the 1619 Project, identity politics, literature, and cosmopolitanism and empire.
For the rest of the original episode with Moser, that's number 147: Podbean / Patreon
2020-10-2202 minBungacastExcerpt: /154/ A Reasonably Important Election ft. Alex GourevitchFull episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On the Covid election.
Trump has made himself deeply unpopular while the Democrats have tried to demobilise the electorate. What, if anything, are the two parties selling? Are they coherent entities? And what is likely to happen? Plus: we discuss a potential political realignment in process and what foreign policy would look like under a Biden presidency.
2020-10-2005 minBungacastExcerpt: /152/ I Can't Believe It's Not Weimar ft. David Broder
Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On why anti-fascism is a problem.
The Trump presidency and the current protests in the US have led many to argue this is just like the 1930s. The implication is that fascism is rising and the Left must join up with liberals to oppose this evil. Why is this historical analogy so wide of the mark? Was the Left really culpable for the fascists rise to power? And anyway, our age is vastly different to interwar Europe. So what is the real function of calls to anti...
2020-10-0607 minBungacastExcerpt: /151/ Reading Club: Full EmploymentEpisode for patrons $10+. Subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast
This month we discuss Polish economist Michal Kalecki's landmark essay, "Political Aspects of Full Employment". This follows on from our recent free episode, 'It's Not Robots, It's Capitalism' (ep 149) focusing on unemployment.
Kalecki anticipated both the Keynesian postwar settlement as well as its undoing, and the neoliberalism that followed. We focus on how Kalecki introduces the question of political authority into economics.
For reference, the next five Reading Clubs have already been announced: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41524278
2020-10-0209 minBungacastExcerpt: /148/ Three Articles (September)
Full episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
On Brexit negotiations and state aid; on pandemic policies and confirmation bias; and on Beethoven and access to high culture.
Readings:
Of moonshots and bus subsidies: How state aid became a Brexit deal-breaker, The Economist (attached in patreon)
Sweden’s Covid-19 experiment holds a worldwide warning, Wolfgang Münchau, FT (attached in patreon)
Why are we racialising Beethoven, Ralph Leonard, Unherd
Additional referenced pieces:
Anders Tegnell and the Swedish Covid experiment, FT
We Need a Radically Different Approach to the Pandemic and Our Economy as a Whole, Katherine Yik...
2020-09-2219 min