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:
/190/ Top 5 Fetishes ft. Elena Louisa Lange
UNLOCKED /183/ Acid Bunga Bunga ft. Mike Watson
/189/ Pink Tide Paradoxes ft. Fabio Luis
UNLOCKED /179/ The Hobbyist Left ft. David Swift
Excerpt: /188/ The Huge Package State pt. 2 ft. Anton Jäger
/187/ The Huge Package State ft. Anton Jäger
/186/ Aufhebonus Bonus ft. Lee Jones
/185/ Discipline-Flourishing Democracy ft. Lee Jones
Excerpt: /184/ Reading Club: The European Coup
Excerpt: /183/ Acid Bunga Bunga ft. Mike Watson
Excerpt: /182/ Three Articles: Sporno-Vaxxo-Techno-Populism
/181/ Juche in North Britain? ft. Cat Boyd & David Jamieson
/180/ Bunga Bunga (but Gay) ft. Mark Simpson & River Page
Excerpt: /179/ The Hobbyist Left ft. David Swift
/173/ Reading Club: Left Case for Brexit (UNLOCKED)
Excerpt: /178/ Reading Club: Societies of Control
Excerpt: /177/ AufheBonus Bonus ft. Catherine Liu
/176/ The Worst Class ft. Catherine Liu
Excerpt: /175/ Psychoanalysis Against Adaptation ft. Benjamin Fong
/174/ Social Ungluing ft. Benjamin Fong
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