Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology
These are posts about books from the blog Base and Superstructure. Occasionally I’ll read a book worth talking about, and write some thoughts on it. These cover a wide range of topics from the blog.
I said earlier that I listened to Mike Duncan‘s podcast The History of Rome. Along with the podcast, I also picked up quite a few books on Roman history.
Sure, I could have spread those books out in the blog’s monthly reading list posts. But what’s the fun in that? Instead, I thought I’d create a special list for books on Roman history.
Enjoy!
Welcome to the first reading list of 2023! The monthly posts are back, and this one will feature a couple of philosophical works. And even a bonus movie.
So, without further ado, let’s get on to the first reading list post of 2023. And let me know what you’re reading in this new year.
As I’m sure many readers know, I use the ‘corporate world’ tag on blog posts where I discuss the business world and its oddities. For those who don’t know, check out the tag at the right (and at the bottom of this post). Over the last few months, I’ve read quite a few books – mostly fiction! – that address business world themes. Mostly criticisms of that world.
So, I hope readers enjoy hearing about some of those books. Read on for some thoughts on them!
Welcome to the final reading list post of 2022! Don’t worry, there will be more in January 2023. But there won’t be any more this year. So what have I been reading at the end of 2022? Read on to find out. And, as always, let me know what you’ve been reading.
This post is about David Graeber’s book The Utopia of Rules. But that’s not what comes to mind when most people think about Graeber.
Upon his fall 2020 death, many leftists rushed to define the work and legacy of David Graeber. The socialist left tended to focus on his work with Occupy Wall Street and his book Debt. By contrast, the mainstream press focused on the more popular book Bullshit Jobs. And both sides had a word to say about his final book The Dawn of Everything, which formed a kind of grand synthesis of his historical and political views.
That’s all well and good. I’ve read each of these books and written about a couple. Graeber’s work follows a familiar pattern – insightful, but problems tend to lurk.
But I think The Utopia of Rules is where we should go if we want to find Graeber’s most compelling work. In it, he goes after bureaucracy, especially its history and its shaping by the modern world. Though it wanders into the more speculative realms of social theory, it hits a key topic from several angles. And so, that’s our topic for today.
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