Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Page 65 of 113

FAQ #6: Are You Working on A New Book?

Oh, thanks for asking!

As many readers already know, I published my first book about six years ago. It’s called Classify and Label: The Unintended Marginalization of Social Groups. This book covers much of my early research focused on the social impact of classifications in the sciences and everyday life.

I’ve kicked around a number of book ideas since then, and I published an ebook on Trumpism (A Primer on Trumpism) before the 2020 election.

But lately my thoughts have turned toward foreign policy, particularly the idea that the U.S. left still doesn’t have much of a consensus on what a foreign policy should look like. I’ve written a series of posts on foreign policy on this blog, and I’m collecting that material and turning it into a book project! The basic idea here is that we need to build a left consensus on foreign policy. And we should organize that consensus around principles of international solidarity and working-class unity across borders. With that kind of consensus in place, we can do better organizing across borders.

The manuscript is pretty much done. I’m thinking now about publishing options.

Racial Equality vs. Transformative Justice?

Groups working to put ‘justice’ in ‘criminal justice’ face choices about how to frame the issues and focus their efforts. Many groups join movements out of concern for racial equality or racial justice. And many of us know the criminal justice treats black Americans worse than whites. But I’ll point to a tension in some of these issues – one that shows the benefits of a transformative justice approach. Only by working for transformative justice as its primary goal will leftists achieve what they have in mind.

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Eye of a Needle: Class Politics and the Wealthy

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19: 23-24)*

Contrary to ‘prosperity theology‘ trends we find among some right-wing Christians, most Christians long upheld the virtues of the marginalized (not to mention a skeptical attitude toward work). We find the injunction to do so most clearly in Bible passages like the one above. And we find a similar tradition in leftist politics – positing the working class as the main agent for social and political change.

Are these the same ideas? Can the wealthy play a positive role in society?

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What Should The Left Expect From a Biden Presidency?

The U.S. left – especially the leftist factions most excited about Bernie Sanders – never figured out how to handle Joe Biden. Sanders folded right away. He endorsed Biden, and then he spent endless hours campaigning for him. Most progressive advocacy groups did the same. As usual, they dropped any and all non-electoral work to focus once again on electing Democrats. Now they’ve got a Biden presidency on their hands.

I won’t remind readers what I think of all this. If you’ve read this blog for awhile, you know I think progressive advocacy groups fuck up by focusing on electing Democrats to office. They fail over and over, and they’re the Charlie Brown of politics.

But as Biden’s inauguration proceeds after the Trumpist insurrection, many issues remain unsettled. What should we expect from the Biden presidency? What kind of job will he do in office? And do progressives have any chance at all of ‘pushing Biden to the left’?

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