Culture, Power, Politics » Podcast

This is the second of our ’emergency podcasts’ with Professor Alan Finlayson during the UK’s 2024 general election. Alan and Jem discuss the controversies of Labour’s de-selection of left-wing parliamentary candidates. the entry of Nigel Farage into the campaign, the politics of the party manifestos and the long-term crisis of the Conservative Party. Come for […]

Jeremy is joined once again by Alan Finlayson for an emergency podcast. We discuss the political situation in the UK, at the start of a general election campaign that nobody thought would be happening exactly now. For more information about Culture, Power and Politics see here.  If you can support us with a small regular donation, […]

In this session, we look at the so-called ‘affective turn’ in the humanities and social sciences since the late 1990s. We consider the multiple forms which this ‘turn’ to affect has taken, in both political terms (from libertarian accelerationists to radical communists) and disciplinary ( from film theory to geography), asking how Spinozan it all […]

In this session we were joined by Tracie Matysik to discuss the very idea of a Spinozan philosophy beyond the writings of Baruch Spinoza himself, and particular in the work of Marx. To what extent is there a consistent  tradition of materialist monism that can be traced back to Spinoza and necessarily or possibly informs historical materialism? […]

What is ‘affect’, why does it matter, and why did people working in the humanities and social sciences start talking about it so much from the 1990s onwards? This is a quick introduction to this topic, which was recorded in a hurry to make up for the fact that our big seminar on ‘the affective […]

In this session, we’re joined by none other than Etienne Balibar to discuss the history and present state of dialogue between Marxism and Spinozism. This is part of our series ‘From Marx to Spinoza’. For more information see: https://culturepowerpolitics.org/from-marx-to-spinoza-affect-ideology-materiality/ If you can support us with a small regular donation, please do so here. If...

With Jason Read and Jeremy Gilbert. In this seminar we finally lay out and discuss the core topics from Spinoza’s major philosophical works, and discuss some of the issues involved with trying to read a 17th century Dutch philosopher who wrote in Latin when you’re a 21st-century Anglophone with a life of your own to live.  […]

With Matthew Worley and Jeremy Gilbert. This was a session of the event ‘The Radical 1970s’, held in London on December 9th 2023. The event was held to mark the publication of Michael Hardt’s book The Subversive Seventies. It was organised and hosted by Jeremy Gilbert and by Katy Petit of the Raphael Samuel History […]

With Sundari Anitha, Ruth Pearson and John Narayan. This was a session of the event ‘The Radical 1970s’, held in London on December 9th 2023. The event was held to mark the publication of Michael Hardt’s book The Subversive Seventies. It was organised and hosted by Jeremy Gilbert and by Katy Petit of the Raphael […]

With Michael Hardt This was a session of the event ‘The Radical 1970s’, held in London on December 9th 2023. The event was held to mark the publication of Michael Hardt’s book The Subversive Seventies. It was organised and hosted by Jeremy Gilbert and by Katy Petit of the Raphael Samuel History Centre, London.  This […]

This was a session of the event ‘The Radical 1970s’, held in London on December 9th 2023. The event was held to mark the publication of Michael Hardt’s book The Subversive Seventies. It was organised and hosted by Jeremy Gilbert and by Katy Petit of the Raphael Samuel History Centre, London.  This session featured Lynne […]

How does Spinoza fit into the history of Western (and world) philosophy? To what is he relevant outside of academic philosophy? Why did he become a hero to a certain strand of Marxist / post-Marxist thinkers in the late 20th century? Why was he ignored by others? This was the second in our ongoing series […]

We slightly re-edited this recording after noticing a glitch in the episode that went out a couple of days ago. Sorry about that – just listen to this one instead! With Jason Read, Andrew Goffey and Jeremy Gilbert (with help from Charlie Clarke) What do we actually mean by ‘Marxism’? What is historical and what […]

‘Social Reproduction’ has re-emerged as a central idea in left-feminist analyses of contemporary power relations and institutions. What light can it shed on our situation in the post-pandemic era and how does it relate to the politics of work, life and care? Speakers: Helen Hester, Professor of Media and Communication, University of West London. Author […]

  While mainstream commentators and far-right apologists insist that that the great political divide today is between different sets of cultural ‘values’, the fact is that nothing correlates with voting Tory as closely as being an outright homeowner with a secure pension. Is this coincidence, or is the social and generation divide between those with […]

Emergency Podcast! Once again Jeremy is joined by Professor Alan Finlayson at very short notice to discuss some stupid action taken by the Labour Party leadership. This week the party has threatened Neal Lawson, Director of Compass with expulsion from the party. Why has this attracted headlines and outrage, and what does it mean? Have […]

In this coronation year, we are visibly reminded that the trappings of the British state are overlaid with the legacies of its empire. But to what extent are current attitudes, legal frameworks and political arrangements really shaped by this imperialist and colonialist past? Did the very idea of a British ‘nation’ – a relatively novel […]

The Conservative and Unionist Party of the United Kingdom has experienced a prolonged period of crisis and transformation, from pro-austerity technocrats under David Cameron to nationalist populists under Johnson. Current PM Rishi Sunak struggles to hold the different factions together amid the demographic and political fracturing of the UK. Can the Tory party reinvent itself […]

Veganism (or, at least, consumption of “plant based” foods) has exploded in the last few years. But what is the relationship between veganism, the climate crisis and the politics of green social justice? Is veganism an inherently individualistic and moralistic form of political activity or a collective practice to resist the commodification of nonhuman animals […]

What are the philosophical and political coordinates of a contemporary eco-socialism? What are the political, economic, cultural and philosophical implications of current debates over ‘degrowth’ and its alternatives? Should we be looking for new forms of sustainable growth, new definitions of economic progress, or completely new ways of conceptualising the desirable future?  Speakers  Ri...

The pandemic exposed the insecurity and vulnerability of workers – from delivery riders to poorly paid culture industry freelancers – who struggled to access the protections afforded to workers on standard employment contacts. Can unions organise these precarious workers to fight for better conditions, or are their working lives simply too fragmented and isolated for […]

The high point of Left electoral success represented by Corbynism, the Sanders campaign, Mélenchon and others seems to have passed. Meanwhile, the climate and broader ecological crises intensify and much of the mobilisation around these issues – from XR to the school climate strikes to Just Stop Oil – originates outside of the conventional Left. […]

Recorded Live at the Ridley Road Market Bar, Dalston, London, on May 3rd 2023 WithAnthony Barnett, Founder of Charter 88 and open Democracy, author of many books including Taking Control: Humanity and America after Trump and the Pandemic and The Lure of Greatness: England’s Brexit and Trump’s America.  Laura Clancy, Lecturer in Media, Lancaster University. Author of Running the Family Firm: how [&...

This is an audio recording of the event held to launch the book Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (and how we win it back). The seminar took place on January 11th at the October Gallery in London, and featured the book’s authors – Jeremy Gilbert & Alex Williams – […]

This is the last in the ‘This Conjuncture’ series of seminars hosted by the journal New Formations in Autumn 2021. Corporate ‘wokeness’ puts positive messages deriving from radical politics to work in the interests of consumer capitalism. Join Rosalind Gill, Akane Kanai, and Francesca Sobande, who will develop an analysis of ‘woke capitalism’ beyond the […]