logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2023
53m 34s

Revisiting the "father of capitalism"

Vox
About this episode

Sean Illing talks with Glory Liu, the author of Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher became an Icon of American Capitalism. Smith is most well-known for being the “father of capitalism,” but as Liu points out in her book, his legacy has been misappropriated — especially in America. They discuss his original intentions and what we can take away from his work today.


Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area

Guest: Glory Liu (@miss_glory), author; lecturer, Harvard University

References: 


Works by Adam Smith:

 

Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app.

Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

This episode was made by: 

  • Producer: Erikk Geannikis
  • Editor: Amy Drozdowska
  • Engineer: Patrick Boyd
  • Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up next
Oct 6
What's worth remembering?
We like to think of memory as a record of the past. But that’s not really what it is. Memory doesn’t keep the past — it can also remake it. It stitches fragments into stories, and those stories — true or not — are what we end up calling our life, and sometimes, our collective his ... Show More
58m 54s
Sep 29
Why TikTok matters
This week, Sean talks with Emily Baker-White, author of Every Screen on the Planet, about why TikTok feels uniquely addictive, how it turned social media into a push-not-pull entertainment feed, and what happens when human editors inside the company can override the algorithm. A ... Show More
1h 3m
Sep 22
The sun will save us
Bill McKibben has spent four decades warning us about climate change. Much of what he predicted has come true. And yet, his new book Here Comes the Sun is more hopeful than you might expect. That’s because, for the first time, we have a genuine alternative: Solar and wind energy ... Show More
47m 8s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2017
Adam Smith: Father of Capitalism
Adam Smith, a moral philosopher and economist, was born in Scotland, the son of a customs officer. In 1776 he published a book called 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’. Smith basically argued against the over regulation of commerce and said if peopl ... Show More
39m 47s
Jul 2023
Capitalism, The State, and How We Got Here with Christian Parenti
Elements of capitalism have existed throughout history — in institutions like markets, class relations, ownership laws, credit systems, etc. But they were never dominant until they came together, escaping the isolated, laboratory conditions in which they once existed, to coalesce ... Show More
1h 9m
Sep 2023
Blame Capitalism: Profit over everything
Economist Milton Friedman published an essay in 1970 arguing that the job of a corporation was solely to make money for its shareholders. General Electric CEO Jack Welch pushed that idea about as far as it would go — and broke capitalism.This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, ... Show More
26m 6s
Apr 2024
Post Capitalism w/ Alnoor Ladha
“Post capitalism is not simply another ‘ism’ to replace previous ideologies. It’s not a euphemism for socialism or anarchism or Nordic capitalism—although it may contain some elements of each. Post capitalism is a conceptual container for social pluralities based on shared values ... Show More
1h 5m
Jan 2022
A People's Guide to Capitalism with Hadas Thier
Why do so many of us often feel like shit when we leave work? Where does that ambient feeling of alienation come from? That nagging sense that we’ve somehow been taken advantage of? That subtle anger — or sometimes even outright hatred — many of us feel towards our supervisors, o ... Show More
57m 58s
May 2023
Documentary #15: The Myth of Freedom Under Capitalism
Although its intellectual handmaidens love to insist otherwise — capitalism is not a system that truly embodies freedom. We all feel it, of course — that nagging sense that we lack any agency over the choices that shape our lives, the frustration we feel at our bosses, the tensio ... Show More
1h 39m
Sep 2023
Blame Capitalism: Degrowing pains
Capitalism isn’t natural, was never inevitable, and endless growth is killing Earth. The final episode of “Blame Capitalism” examines the degrowth movement, whose proponents call to end capitalism as we know it.This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, ... Show More
26m 4s
May 2023
The Aftermath: America's Late-Stage Capitalism
New Guest Expert! On this week’s Aftermath, Rebecca speaks with historian and Professor of History at SUNY Purchase, Dr. Jessica Levy about all things Capitalism. Host of the Podcast WHO MAKES CENTS: A History of Capitalism, Professor Levy does a meticulous job of walking us thro ... Show More
52m 4s
Jul 2022
#287 — Why Wealth Matters
Sam Harris speaks with Morgan Housel about the psychology of money and investing. They discuss how personal history shapes one’s view of economic risk, the implications of not understanding the future, being rich vs being wealthy, how we measure success, the problem of social com ... Show More
50m 15s