Category: Precariat

The Gap in God’s Country: A Longer View On Our Culture Wars: Now in Paperback and Kindle

October 23, 2024

My latest book, The Gap in God’s Country: A Longer View on Our Culture Wars, published by Wipf & Stock/Cascade Books, was just published, and you can get it in paperback or electronic editions. I will be doing some live sessions through The Maurin Academy in November and December on themes from the book. I hope you get it now, and join us for these live sessions to discuss what’s going on in the US at a deeper “longer view” level. We need this discussion now more than ever. Here are the links you need to get the book and to get in on the sessions. … More The Gap in God’s Country: A Longer View On Our Culture Wars: Now in Paperback and Kindle

The Greatest of All Plagues: Economic Inequality From Plato to Marx: Interview w/ David Lay Williams

October 5, 2024

Direct link to DePaul University Political Scientist Dr. David Lay William’s book and e-book, The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691171975/the-greatest-of-all-plagues?srsltid=AfmBOoouC6GyFyOl3Elvzagqym3OgW-ohnU_ydH4vwXy6E0Nz3OpVb34 … More The Greatest of All Plagues: Economic Inequality From Plato to Marx: Interview w/ David Lay Williams

The Fragmented Self in Modern Liberalism (V.S. Naipaul, One Out of Many, 3) & Future Plans

July 29, 2024

Laurie wraps up her discussion of VS Naipaul’s short story One Out of Many, from In a Free State. The discussion centers around the various forms and impacts of liberal modernity and the dislocations it causes. Hillbilly Elegy bookclub is also briefly mentioned. … More The Fragmented Self in Modern Liberalism (V.S. Naipaul, One Out of Many, 3) & Future Plans

Do We Live in a Servile State? ft. Hilaire Belloc’s Distributism (Seminar 2)

June 20, 2021

This is a section of audio from the Summer 2021 Seminar on Distributism, an economic philosophy that isn’t capitalist or socialist. Distributism advocates for a more even and equal distribution of private property. Hilaire Belloc was one of a few thinkers credited with founding 20th Century Distributism. In this video some of his ideas are discussed in the context of current application, particularly on the question of whether workfare would be recognized by Belloc as promoting the Servile State. … More Do We Live in a Servile State? ft. Hilaire Belloc’s Distributism (Seminar 2)

Can You Be Both Anti-Capitalist and Anti-Communist? (Seminar 1-Rerum Novarum)

June 12, 2021

This is a segment from the first session of the Summer Seminar on Distributism (2021), part of an hour and a half long session on the origins of Distributism in Aristotle’s Politics and various Catholic encyclicals (the one mainly mentioned here is Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII, 1891, in the wake of the Industrial Revolution). Distributism is a line of thought that opposes both capitalism and socialism/communism as equally materialistic and destructive of freedom and proposes a third way–more widespread ownership of private property. It is separable from religion, because it is primarily a proposal about how to deal with property, but this session covers its roots in Ancient Greek and Christian thought. … More Can You Be Both Anti-Capitalist and Anti-Communist? (Seminar 1-Rerum Novarum)

Multitasking Ourselves to Death (Precariat 6-Audio)

May 31, 2021

Guy Standing’s chapter on “tertiary time” in his book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class” deals with some important (and very recognizable) evils of our current work environment. The loss of control over our time is the main theme, and the harm that comes from this is sometimes very obvious and sometimes not at all. This video deals with the hidden cost of maintaining what it takes to work in the precariat, including time to maintain themselves and the personal equipment they use, and dealing with constantly changing schedules which means they have to constantly think about how to take care of children and elderly. Hidden traps having to do with taxes and contracts make it harder for the precariat to ever leave their condition. … More Multitasking Ourselves to Death (Precariat 6-Audio)

Multitasking Ourselves to Death (Precariat 6-Video)

May 30, 2021

Guy Standing’s chapter on “tertiary time” in his book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class” deals with some important (and very recognizable) evils of our current work environment. The loss of control over our time is the main theme, and the harm that comes from this is sometimes very obvious and sometimes not at all. This video deals with the hidden cost of maintaining what it takes to work in the precariat, including time to maintain themselves and the personal equipment they use, and dealing with constantly changing schedules which means they have to constantly think about how to take care of children and elderly. Hidden traps having to do with taxes and contracts make it harder for the precariat to ever leave their condition. … More Multitasking Ourselves to Death (Precariat 6-Video)

Migrants and Underemployment in Context: What’s Really Going On? (Precariat 5-Audio)

May 22, 2021

In this video, I discuss Ch. 4 of Guy Standing’s The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, which is on migration. Many in developed countries with large numbers of migrant laborers blame these laborers for taking jobs and reducing their economic prospects. Looking deeper, though, we see that they are there because globalized economic interests want the ultimate flexible and vulnerable labor pool and governments make sure they get them. Many leaders and parties talk about wanting their citizens to have good jobs but their actions and the results of their policies say otherwise. Ultimately no one wins in the current system, certainly not illegal migrants living in serfdom to survive. To get to the heart of the problem, we have to look at who/what benefits from large numbers of legal and illegal migrants. … More Migrants and Underemployment in Context: What’s Really Going On? (Precariat 5-Audio)

Migrants and Underemployment in Context: What’s Really Going On? (Precariat 5-video)

May 22, 2021

In this video, I discuss Ch. 4 of Guy Standing’s The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, which is on migration. Many in developed countries with large numbers of migrant laborers blame these laborers for taking jobs and reducing their economic prospects. Looking deeper, though, we see that they are there because globalized economic interests want the ultimate flexible and vulnerable labor pool and governments make sure they get them. Many leaders and parties talk about wanting their citizens to have good jobs but their actions and the results of their policies say otherwise. Ultimately no one wins in the current system, certainly not illegal migrants living in serfdom to survive. To get to the heart of the problem, we have to look at who/what benefits from large numbers of legal and illegal migrants. … More Migrants and Underemployment in Context: What’s Really Going On? (Precariat 5-video)

Why is My University Degree Not Enough? (4-Audio)

May 9, 2021

Guy Standing, author of The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class answers this question this way: because there just aren’t enough stable, well paying jobs in the new economy. In this video I discuss some of the realities of university education today, especially the trend towards trying to sell education as a commodity with a promise of being qualified for specific jobs. The watering down of education is a serious concern of Standing. This education saddles students with debt, can’t necessarily deliver the job they were trained for, and meantime has not encouraged them to think critically and creatively but to keep their heads down and do what’s required, even if it’s not at all what they wanted. The Precariat is therefore deprived of a key element in achieving some sort of political influence and the ability to push back–a good education. … More Why is My University Degree Not Enough? (4-Audio)