Everyday Anarchism

I'm joined by Alfie Kohn to discuss No Contest: The Case Against Competition , his 1986 book about how competition hurts rather than helps people do their best. We cover the problem with grades, the reason why excellence and competition are opposed, and whats wrong with rewards and what makes awards even worse. For more from Alfie, check out his website: https://www.alfiekohn.org/

The Debt series returns, hopefully to finish by early 2025. This my reading of Chapter 8 (and a little of Chapter 7), soon to be followed by a discussion with Luke Kemp.

This episode publishes on the hundredth anniversary of Colin Ward! Colin was one of the popularizers of many of the ideas featured in this podcast, and I've stayed away from covering him for fear of copying him. But my guest today, Roman Krznaric, convinced me to do an episode on Colin's thought, and we had a thrilling conversation about anarchy, city planning, protest, and Kim Stanley Robinson. I...

Here's a crossover episode from my other podcast, Plumbing Game Studies. Things have been crazy lately, and I have emails from back in April I haven't responded to. My apologies if you've emailed me and not heard back. I hope to get caught up soon, or at least in 2024!

Who create the modern theory of political sovereignty? Thomas Hobbes. What was Hobbes afraid of? Anarchy. What made Hobbes so afraid of anarchy? The English Revolution. Today's guest is Alison McQueen, who can be found at https://www.alisonmcqueen.info/

Clif Mark, host of the Good in Theory podcast, joins me to discuss honor and degradation in Graeber's Debt . Also I make Clif talk about representation in Star Wars, for some reason.

One of the most famous author's in the English language, John Milton, was a 17th century English radical who not only supported but also worked for the English revolutionary government. I'm joined by Nigel Smith, a returning guest, and Nick McDowell, author of Poet of Revolution: The Making of John Milton , to discuss Milton's radicalism and its relationship to the English Revolution.

A little belatedly, here's my episode about Graeber's Debt, Chapter 7. A discussion on honor and dignity will be coming later this month with Clif Mark of the Good in Theory podcast!

Kate Peters, author of Print Culture and the Early Quakers , joins me to discuss the Quakers, the last of the radical groups we're covering the English Revolution series. You can hear about how the Quakers can be seen as the end of political radicalism in the revolution, or alternately as a different form of radical organizing, as evidenced by William Penn's political declarations in the 1701 char...

In this debt discussion, Fuad and I discuss Chapter 6 of Debt, " Games with Sex and Death," and especially the way that Graeber is writing in the grand theory tradition of anthropology. Fuad also taught with David at the London School of Economics, and is able to explain how Graeber approached these same concepts in anthropology as a teacher and colleague. You can find Fuad's anthropological work...

In the next episode of Radicalism in the English Revolution, I'm joined by Bernard Capp to discuss The Fifth Monarchists - a radical protestant sect that was trying to bring about the end of the world, and wanted Cromwell to help them!

Graeber explains human economies, economies in which money can only be used to shore up social relations, and can't be used to buy things - to the utter confusion of anthropologists trying to buy things

My former professors John McGowan and Meili Steele join me to discuss Richard Rorty's final book, Pragmatism as Anti-Authoritarianism .

James K. Galbraith joins me to discuss the flaws in the field of economics and its pseudoscientific justifications

Stuart Klawans joins me to discuss his recent book Crooked but Never Common about the films of Preston Sturges, the first writer-director of the Hollywood sound era. Informed by the work of Stanley Cavell, Stuart's book reads these comedies as asking important questions about democracy, business, the New Deal, marriage, and other pressing questions. Plus they're a joy to watch!

The chapter of Debt which inspired this podcast - get ready to hear the origin of everyday anarchism!

Philosopher of games C. Thi Nguyen joins me to discuss his current work on the intersection of anarchism and games studies. The conversation was so much fun that I started a whole new podcast, Plumbing Game Studies, to continue exploring this topic. For more from Thi, here's his website: https://objectionable.net/ Here's the website for the new podcast, Plumbing Game Studies Spotify Link: https://...

In this episode I'm joined by Henry Farrell , who got into an internet spat with David Graeber over Debt . Henry recently wrote a reflection on the kerfuffle at the blog Crooked Timber , and also co-wrote a book, Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy , that came about in part as a response to Graeber's Debt .

Kim Stanley Robinson to talk about his Mars trilogy, the theory of revolution that animates it, and where anarchism and anarchists fit in. This conversation is a direct sequel to our conversations on the Three Californias triptych, which you can listen to here: https://www.everydayanarchism.com/093-the-wild-shore-three-californias-kim-stanley-robinson/ https://www.everydayanarchism.com/096-the-gol...

Happy Mardi Gras! The show should be back publishing new episodes in March. In the meantime, here's a rerun, and a link to a couple of interview I did late last year: https://pod.link/1705765872/episode/716e36494d7eff56dc142642d55c7c3b https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jelle-laverge/episodes/The-Core-Curriculum---Episode-1---Interview-with-Graham-Culbertson-e2aeujb

Radicalism in the English Revolution gets to the Ranters, the radical group of protestants who may or may not have practiced free love - but definitely sparked a moral panic! In this extra-long discussion, Nigel Smith and I discuss the roots of Ranterism, its connections to the Diggers, its legacy for romanticism, and its connection to later American radical movements. Plus we talk about punk rock...

For my very first repeat episode, I'm reposting a conversation with Ruth Kinna about Santa Claus, Kropotkin, and the prefigurative practice of Christmas. You can read Ruth's article on the topic here: An Anarchist Guide to Christmas

Diane Purkiss joins me to discuss the Christmas Wars, in which Puritans attempted to prevent the celebration of Christmas in the 17th century. Christmas was a carnival in which the world was turned upside down - and the Puritans weren't having it. We also discuss the Lord of Misrule , Twelfth Night , and that 21st century lord of misrule: Lord Buckethead !

Debt Chapter 4, in which Jesus and Nietzsche show up!

I'm joined by Brian Merchant to discuss his new book, Blood in the Machine . Brian argues persuasively that the Luddites weren't anti-technology but were actually for a different social order and a different use of technology. More importantly, in Brian's book the factory owners look a lot like today's tech titans and the workers look a lot like, well, today's workers. So come back with us to the...