Emancipations Podcast

I’m pleased to welcome intellectual historian Edward Baring to the show for a conversation on the concept of “vulgar Marxism” and the different theories of worker education that Marxists have developed and debated over time. We discuss the origins of the accusation of "vulgar Marxism" and how it is juxtaposed with "genteel Marxism." We then dive into the world of Second International Marxism and the various theories of worker education that grew during this period from 1891–1931. This discussion is inspired by Baring's new book, Vulgar Marxism: Revolutionary Politics and the Dilemmas of Worker Education. This book has helped me a great deal in filing in some important context to this important period of history. Specifically, I was impressed with the way the debates over worker pedagogy, class consciousness and liberation were forged off of a Kautskyist source of influence. Acquire a copy of Vulgar Marxism: https://bit.ly/4rZwNWM Edward Baring is Professor of History and Human Values at Princeton and an intellectual historian specializing in twentieth-century Europe. He earned his BA in Mathematics and History at the University of Cambridge, and his PhD at Harvard University. Before coming to Princeton, he taught for a decade at Drew University. Baring has held fellowships from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the ACLS, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. At Princeton he holds a joint appointment with the University Center for Human Values. -- Become a Patron to Emancipations and gain early access to all of my interviews and participate in our study groups: www.patreon.com/emancipations

I'm joined by filmmaker and theorist Helen Rollins for a discussion on her new book on psychoanalysis and cinema, Psychocinema. In this book Helen argues there is a fundamental relationship between the structure of psychoanalysis and that of cinema. Cinema acts upon the viewer like psychoanalysis upon the analysand and can expose them to the universal lack inherent in their desire. This process undermines the unconscious logic of capitalism, which relies on a promise in fulfillment. We also discuss Helen's experiences in the film industry, her many film projects (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7184276) in addition to the theoretical topics raised in Psychocinema. Get a copy of Psychocinema here: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Psychocinema-p-9781509561155 

How can we make sense of the logic behind Donald Trump and the spectacle of chaos that seems to follow him? What appears as disorder on the surface may in fact reveal deeper transformations within American politics and the structure of power itself. I’m joined by American historian Paul Heideman for a critical discussion of Trump’s politics and a sober assessment of the dynamics shaping the second Trump presidency. In this episode of Emancipations, Heideman analyzes our present conjuncture by looking at the past 40 years of American bourgeois politics, with particular focus on how the Republican Party has transformed from the party of business into the party of chaos. We explore how today’s political disorder reflects the weakening of American political parties as institutions and the fracturing of the corporate elite. Along the way, we discuss the far right, the legacy of the John Birch Society, Newt Gingrich’s 1990s revolution in party politics, the consolidation of the capitalist class around the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, and the question of whether Trump should be understood as a fascist political figure.This conversation is inspired by Paul Heideman's excellent new book, Rogue Elephant: How the Republicans Went from the Party of Business to the Party of Chaos. Rogue Elephant traces the radicalization of the Republican Party over the past fifty years, arguing that its subordination to Donald Trump was not an anomaly, but rather the culmination of processes at work for decades. Providing a new perspective on figures from Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush to the Koch brothers and Donald Trump, it shows that the party’s lurch to the far right was the product of a volatile mix of a disorganized party structure and a divided and fractious class of American business owners. Paul Heideman holds a PhD in American Studies from Rutgers University-Newark. His work has appeared in publications such as Jacobin, Dissent, and In These Times. He works as a history teacher in New York City.

Joining me for his second appearance, Philipp Felsch explores the life and thought of Jürgen Habermas, one of the most influential philosophers of the modern era and Germany’s foremost living public intellectual. We trace Habermas's roots in the Marxist tradition, his role in the Frankfurt School, relationship to Adorno and Horkheimer, to his influential presence during the May 68 period across West Germany. We discuss why Habermas’s theory of the public sphere has been so influential, and why he came to be so widely revered as a philosopher, especially within American academia. We then examine how Habermas abandoned Marxism in his turn to develop a comprehensive theory of communication. Habermas is known as an admonishing voice of reason, as the moral conscience of post-Holocaust German society but in the wake of October 7th and his uncritical position on the genocide in Gaza, Habermas's intellectual supremacy seems to be coming to an end today. Learn more about Philipp's new book, The Philosopher: Habermas and Us (translated by Tony Crawford) https://bit.ly/4qjpFTC

We discuss Pierre Bourdieu's legacy and its implications for understanding intellectuals. You can find C. Derick Varn at VarnVlog. In addition to going through some of Bourdieu's key categories, these are the primary readings we discuss: Pascalian Meditations by Pierre Bourdieu  Homo Academicus by Pierre Bourdieu The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger by Pierre Bourdieu "The Role of the Intellectual in the Modern World" by Pierre Bourdieu Distinction by Pierre Bourdieu