Episodes
Monday Nov 29, 2021
Excerpt: /227/ Reading Club: All That Is Solid
Monday Nov 29, 2021
Monday Nov 29, 2021
Thursday Oct 28, 2021
Excerpt: /221/ Reading Club: Truth About Class
Thursday Oct 28, 2021
Thursday Oct 28, 2021
Saturday Aug 21, 2021
Excerpt: /210/ Reading Club: Psychoanalysis & Spirit of Capitalism
Saturday Aug 21, 2021
Saturday Aug 21, 2021
Friday Jul 02, 2021
Excerpt: /201/ Reading Club: The New Class War
Friday Jul 02, 2021
Friday Jul 02, 2021
We discuss Michael Lind's The New Class War.
Lind identifies new lines in the class war, between working class and managerial overclass, between those in the "heartlands" and those in the "hubs". How convincing is this account? What is his critique of technocratic managerialism and its symptom, populism? How convincing - and realistic - is his solution of "democratic pluralism"? And is this only achievable as a result of a new cold war with China?
Reading Clubs are for higher-tier subscribers only. Sign up for $10/mo for full access: patreon.com/bungacast
Monday May 10, 2021
Excerpt: /191/ Reading Club: Ever Closer Union?
Monday May 10, 2021
Monday May 10, 2021
We discuss the second of Perry Anderson's three LRB essays on the making and unmaking of the EU: "Ever Closer Union?"
Our monthly Reading Club is for patrons $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
UNLOCKED /179/ The Hobbyist Left ft. David Swift
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
Sunday Apr 25, 2021
Readings:
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A Left For Itself, David Swift, Zer0 Books
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How the Left lost all purpose, James Bloodworth, Unherd
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How not to be a white anti-racist, David Swift, Unherd
Friday Apr 02, 2021
Excerpt: /184/ Reading Club: The European Coup
Friday Apr 02, 2021
Friday Apr 02, 2021
We discuss the first of Perry Anderson's new essays on Europe published in the London Review of Books, which focuses on Luuk van Middelaar - described as the EU's first organic intellectual. We discuss what that means, as well as the role of the "coup" in forming the EU.
Reading Club episodes are for subscribers $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Monday Mar 01, 2021
/173/ Reading Club: Left Case for Brexit (UNLOCKED)
Monday Mar 01, 2021
Monday Mar 01, 2021
We've exceptionally unlocked one of our recent Reading Clubs. For access to all the monthly Reading Clubs - as well as our ~2 patreon episodes a month - subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast for $10.
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On Richard Tuck's The Left Case for Brexit, a book composed of essays written throughout the Brexit process, providing a diary of Brexit of sorts, as well as political and historical arguments around sovereignty.
We also take the opportunity to debate its global implications - what are the possibilities for popular sovereignty in a globalised world?
On the final deal and its implications, see: The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement: Minimum Brexit
Friday Feb 26, 2021
Excerpt: /178/ Reading Club: Societies of Control
Friday Feb 26, 2021
Friday Feb 26, 2021
We discuss Gilles Deleuze's short essay, Postscript on the Societies of Control and ask whether his understanding, according to which society has changed from one where discipline is exercised in institutions to one where control is implemented across society, holds water.
The monthly Bungacast Reading Club is for patrons $10+. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
Friday Jan 15, 2021
Excerpt: /170/ Reading Club: Streeck's Critical Encounters
Friday Jan 15, 2021
Friday Jan 15, 2021
This is a sample. Reading Clubs are for patrons $10+. Sign up now at patreon.com/bungacast
This month we discuss a book by leading German sociologist and public intellectual, Wolfgang Streeck. Critical Encounters is a compilation of book reviews, discussing neoliberal ideas, politics and economy.
We start off by discussing the value of reading books in today's noisy, social media-filled, locked-down climate, as well as what makes a good book review. Then we address five themes: the coming of post-industrial society; popular misconceptions about neoliberalism; German hegemony in Europe; Cosmopolitan delusions; and the future of capitalism.
Our interview with Wolfgang Streeck from November 2020 can be found here.
Monday Dec 21, 2020
/167/ The Kingdom of God Is on Main Street ft. Todd McGowan
Monday Dec 21, 2020
Monday Dec 21, 2020
On freedom, authority and responsibility.
Theorist Todd McGowan joins us to talk about the End of History, what Hegel can teach us about emancipation, and why Slavoj Zizek’s reinterpretation of Hegel is so important. If contradiction is the basis of modern politics, what is its link to freedom? And what is the connection between freedom and authority? Are stable sources of authority even possible in modernity? We also put some listener questions to Todd, as we learn that the Right, just as much as the Left, evades authority and is unwilling to take responsibility.
Readings:
Friday Dec 18, 2020
/161/ Culture is Bad for You ft. Mark Taylor (UNLOCKED)
Friday Dec 18, 2020
Friday Dec 18, 2020
Tuesday Dec 15, 2020
Excerpt: /166/ Aufhebonus Bonus (December)
Tuesday Dec 15, 2020
Tuesday Dec 15, 2020
This episode is for subscribers only. Sign up at patreon.com/bungacast
We round off the year by previewing The End of the End of History and responding to your questions and criticisms, including Strasserism or left-conservatism, revolutionary memories, more on Covid and lockdowns, and other bits.
Tuesday Dec 08, 2020
/165/ Black Spartacus ft. Sudhir Hazareesingh
Tuesday Dec 08, 2020
Tuesday Dec 08, 2020
CLR James’s electrifying 1938 history of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins, has long been a staple of many radicals’ libraries. But we now know a lot more about the life of the Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint L’Ouverture. How does this new knowledge impact our understanding of the Haitian Revolution, and on revolution in general? Sudhir Hazeeresingh, the author of a gripping new biography based on new archival research, ‘Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, talks with us about about revolutionary leadership and Atlantic history.
Reading:
- Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture
- ‘You never know when it is going to explode’, interview with CLR James, Marxist Internet Archive
Friday Dec 04, 2020
Excerpt: /164/ Reading Club: Culture of Narcissism
Friday Dec 04, 2020
Friday Dec 04, 2020
This is a short sample. Full episode is available for subscribers at patreon.com/bungacast
We re-evaluate Christopher Lasch's hugely influential and prescient The Culture of Narcissism. What conjunctural factors led Lasch to his insights, and to what extent are those still present? Lasch wrote during the collapse of postwar Fordist-Keynesian model – is it the collapse of neoliberalism today that makes the book so evocative? And if narcissism has only increased, does the book suggest any political ways-out?