12:00 PM Pacific Time: Mondays - Wednesdays
Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley.
Uber, Airbnb, and other high-profile enterprises in the so-called sharing economy are fundamentally transforming the economic landscape. Should we welcome these changes, or are they doing more harm than good? Keally McBride examines what the rise of the sharing economy has meant for workers, for institutions, and for the digital platforms on which its participants … Continued
More than a century ago, the Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, called for the four-hour workday. Should we be considering something similar now? Kathi Weeks explores why radicals should envision a world where work is not central to our existence. She also discusses cutting the work week, without a cut in pay, and … Continued
The way we think about inequality today is governed by a number of assumptions not necessarily shared by other people at other times in history. James Martel looks to the anarchists of early twentieth-century Spain for an understanding and experience of political equality that could – and, in some cases, does – inform contemporary efforts … Continued
Are capitalism’s days numbered? Or are the crises of our time a transition to yet another form of capitalism? Jason W. Moore argues that we can’t separate the crises of what we usually term economics and the environment — and discusses why he thinks capitalism is running up against insurmountable limits.
A number of thinkers and activists on the left have embraced the notion of a basic income paid to all without means testing or a work requirement. Erik Olin Wright argues that a generous basic income would contribute to revitalizing a socialist challenge to capitalism. He also distinguishes the version of UBI that he supports … Continued
Historian Matthew Delmont discusses the controversy over school desegregation in the 1960s and ’70s and how it was reduced by the media and politicians to the frame of “busing” students. He reflects on the political implications of turning civil rights and segregation in the North into the narrow issue of school transfers.
Is torture ever morally permissible? For what purposes does the US government practice torture? And what should we make of the oft-repeated ticking time bomb scenario? Rebecca Gordon contends that examining torture through the lens of virtue ethics helps us understand what torture does in relation to its targets, its practitioners, and society at large.
As the political theorist Hannah Arendt watched the Nazi official Adolf Eichmann give testimony before the District Court of Jerusalem in 1961, she came up with a notion of evil that generated enormous controversy. Peter Burdon shares his understanding of what Arendt mean by “the banality of evil,” and discusses the contemporary relevance of Arendt’s ideas.
Peter Hudis discusses the Martiniquan philosopher, psychiatrist, and revolutionary Frantz Fanon, best known for his books The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks.
Agriculture in the Soviet Union had some colossal disasters — not the least of which was the near-destruction of the Aral Sea — and some significant successes as well. But most of the analysis of that experience has been through a Cold War lens. Historian Jenny Leigh Smith has taken a second look at Soviet … Continued
