Nov 17

How to survive awkward encounters

We all know what awkwardness feels like. It's that jolt of discomfort when the social script breaks down, and no one knows what to do next. But what if awkwardness isn’t a flaw to fix but a window into how we live together? Sean’s guest today is Alexandra Plakias, associate p ... Show More

56m 52s

Nov 10

Truth in an age of doublethink

We use “Orwellian” to describe everything from campus dust-ups to authoritarian crackdowns. But what did George Orwell actually stand for, what did he get wrong, and what can we learn from him about our age of surveillance capitalism and distraction? Sean’s guest is Laura Beers, ... Show More

52m 16s

Nov 3

The case against free will

We all think of ourselves as authors of our lives. The difference between our happy ending and someone else’s tragic one are the choices we each make. But what if none of that’s true? Sean’s guest today is Robert Sapolsky, a biologist and neuroscientist at Stanford University and ... Show More

58m 50s

Jun 2023

What Communes and Other Radical Experiments in Living Together Reveal

“Today’s future-positive writers critique our economies while largely seeming to ignore that anything might be amiss in our private lives,” writes Kristen Ghodsee. Even our most ambitious visions of utopia tend to focus on outcomes that can be achieved through public policy — ... Show More

1h 10m

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 bosse ... Show More

1h 39m

Mar 2024

Jacqueline Kennelly, "Burnt by Democracy: Youth, Inequality, and the Erosion of Civic Life" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

Burnt by Democracy: Youth, Inequality, and the Erosion of Civic Life (University of Toronto Press, 2023) by Dr. Jacqueline Kennelly traces the political ascendance of neoliberalism and its effects on youth. The book explores democracy and citizenship as described in interviews wi ... Show More

1h 5m

Oct 2023

What Is To Be Done? Understanding Communist Strategy

<a href="https://www.upstreampodcast.org/">UPSTREAM</a> INTERVIEW W/ BREHT AND ALYSON: What Is To Be Done? This is the question so profoundly posed by the Russian Revolutionary and Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, in his landmark text of the ... Show More

1h 54m

Sep 2023

The GOP In 2024: Tyranny Of The Minority

On this episode of The Enemies List, Rick is joined by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. Both are authors and professors at Harvard University. Together they discuss why the upcoming 2024 election rivals the importance of the 2020 election in maintaining our democracy, why the ... Show More

36m 44s

Jul 2024

59: Gerontophallocracy 2024: The June Debate Teaser

Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! <a href='http://www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness'>www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness</a> The season is here. The time is now. It’s the most important election of our l ... Show More

2m 45s

Mar 2024

Sunak, Bigotry and 30p Lee

After Lee Anderson and Suella Braverman’s recent outbursts, why are the Tories so scared of the word Islamophobia? And how deep does this issue run in the party? Plus, it’s a But Your Emails special! In the second half the panel answers as many of our listeners burning political ... Show More

1h 7m

Apr 2024

Democracy in a Postmodern Era with Bruce Ackerman

We have to reconstruct the foundations of our democracy, building on the past, not repudiating everything we're building on it.Bruce Ackerman <a href='https://www.patreon.com/demparadox'>Access Episodes Ad-Free on Patreon</a> <a href='https://demo ... Show More

47m 1s

Apr 2024

The Nudge Revolution

Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler’s bestseller ‘Nudge’ was released on 8th April, 2008, catapulting a new method of behavioural economics into the public psyche - and the hands of policymakers, including David Cameron and Barack Obama. The book challenged the notion of humans as r ... Show More

11m 43s

May 2024

249. Question Time: Political honeymoons - how quickly could the public turn on Keir Starmer?

Are we sleepwalking into a crisis that could totally overwhelm our prisons? Why is the South West often forgotten in politics? Why do political honeymoons often come to such abrupt endings? Alastair is again joined by friend of the show David Gauke to answer all these questions ... Show More

32m 1s

Democracy’s existential crisis