Social theory

Happy Monday! Sam & Emma speak with Grace Blakeley, English economics & politics commentator, staff writer at Tribune, to discuss her recent book Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom.
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Dr. Melvin Rogers, professor of political science and associate director of the Center for Philosophy, Politics, & Economics at Brown University, to discuss his recent book The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Poli...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Neil J. Young, co-host of the Past Present podcast, to discuss his recent book Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right. Then, she speaks with Hal Singer, economics professor at the University of Utah, to discuss some of Kamala Harris’ ...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Matt McManus, political science lecturer at the University of Michigan, to discuss his recent book The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism. Then, she speaks with investigative reporter and journalist Rebecca Burns to discuss her recent piece i...
It’s Hump Day! Sam and Emma speak with Jennifer Berkshire, freelance journalist and co-host of the Have You Heard podcast, to discuss her recent book The Education Wars: A Citizen’s Guide And Defense Manual, co-authored with Jack Schneider.  First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the dissent ...
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Ingrid Robeyns, humanities professor at the Utrech University in The Netherlands, to discuss her recent book Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the passage of a UNSC ceasefire resolution, Congress averti...
It’s Casual Friday! And the MR Crew is doing an all CALLS & CLIPS SHOW! Then, they’re joined by Jason Myles, co-host of the This Is Revolution podcast! First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the US’ faux-ceasefire resolution, the UK’s threat of an arms embargo to Israel, UNRWA funding, hu...
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with David Bellos, professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University, to discuss his recent book Who Owns This Sentence?: A History of Copyrights and Wrongs, co-authored with Alexandre Montagu. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Israel’s targetin...
It’s another EmMajority Report Thursday! Emma is BACK from vacation! She speaks with Samantha J. Simon, Assistant Professor in the School of Sociology and School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona, to discuss her recent book Before The Badge: How Academy Training Shapes ...
It’s another EmMajority Report Thursday! Emma speaks with Hanno Hauenstein, independent journalist based in Berlin, to discuss his recent writing in Haaretz and The Intercept regarding the German media’s suppression of pro-Palestinian voices. Then, she speaks with Alberto Toscano, professor of co...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday (of a whole week of EmMajority Reports!)! She speaks with Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer at Slate, to discuss the recent developments of the Supreme Court term. Then, she speaks with Michael Klare, professor of emeritus of peace and world security studies at H...
Happy Monday! Emma speaks with Abdul Alkalimat, professor of African American Studies & library and information science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to discuss his book The History of Black Studies. First, Emma runs through updates on the rising Gaza death count, the crippl...
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Lainey Newman, research assistant at Harvard Law School, to discuss her recent book Rust Belt Union Blues: Why Working-Class Voters Are Turning Away from the Democratic Party, co-authored with Theda Skocpol. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on Israel’s...
It’s another EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Mark Paul, assistant professor of economics at Rutgers University, to discuss his recent book The Ends of Freedom: Reclaiming America’s Lost Promise of Economic Rights. Then, she speaks with Guillaume Long, former foreign minister of Ecuado...
Happy Monday! The whole MR Crew is back! Sam and Emma speak with James Tabery, professor in Philosophy at the University of Utah, to discuss his recent book Tyranny of the Gene: Personalized Medicine and Its Threat to Public Health. First, Sam runs through updates on a US deal with Iran, the Hous...
It’s a special Thursday because SAM is hosting! He speaks with Samuel Moyn, professor of Law & History at Yale University, to discuss his recent book Liberalism against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times.
It’s another EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Ben Terris, writer in the Washington Post’s Style section, to discuss his recent book The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind. Then, she’s joined by Kaniela Ing...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Sara Marcus, assistant professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, about her recent book Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis. Then, Emma is joined by Zoya Teirstein, climate change and he...
Happy Monday! Sam and Emma host Alissa Quart, executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, to discuss her recent book Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream. Then, they’re joined by Aaron Kleinman, director of research for the States Project at Future Now, to...
Happy Monday! In a pre-taped conversation, Sam speaks with Bruce Schneier, lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, to discuss his recent book A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend them Back. First Emma, runs through updates on the leaking of clas...
It’s an EmMajority Report Thursday! She hosts Natalia Mehlman-Petrzela, professor of history at The New School, to discuss her recent book Fit Nation: The Gains And Pains Of America’s Exercise Obsession. Then she is joined by Daniel Finn, features editor at Jacobin, to discuss his recent piece ”B...
Sam and Emma host author Steve Paxton to discuss his recent book How Capitalism Ends: History, Ideology and Progress. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on clashes in and around Atlanta’s developing “Cop City,” DHS’s illegal domestic intel program, Biden vs. the airlines, the East Palestine ...
The MR Crew is back! Sam sits down for a pre-taped conversation with Peniel Joseph, joint professor of public affairs and history at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss his recent book The Third Reconstruction:America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century First, Emma...
Emma hosts, Beatrice Adler-Bolton, co-host of the Death Panel podcast, to discuss her recent book Health Communism, co-authored with Artie Vierkant. First, Emma runs through updates on the US defense budget, the freight rail contract vote heading to the Senate, DC announcing a shift to free bus t...
Emma hosts Leslie Kern, professor of geography, environment, women’s and gender studies at Mount Allison University, to discuss her recent book Gentrification Is Inevitable And Other Lies. Then, she is joined by writer Jacob Silverman to discuss the recent developments surrounding the crypto exch...
Emma hosts Dan Bouk, associate professor of history at Colgate University, to discuss his recent book Democracy’s Data: The Hidden Stories in the U.S. Census and How to Read Them.Then, Emma’s joined by Akela Lacy, politics reporter for The Intercept, to discuss her recent reporting on the Pennsyl...
Emma hosts Dr. Steven Thrasher, assistant professor of journalism at Northwestern University, to discuss his recent book The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality And Disease Collide. Then, Emma is joined by filmmaker Dominique Remy to discuss her work on an upcoming documentary regard...
Emma hosts Dr. Heather Berg, Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University St. Louis, to discuss her recent book Porn Work: Sex, Labor, and Late Capitalism. Emma hosts Dr. Heather Berg, Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washingto...
Sam and Emma host Olufemi O. Taiwo, professor of philosophy at Georgetown University, to discuss his recent book Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else). First, Sam touches on the successful passage of “Build Back– a bit” in the House, effective abortion ...
Sam hosts Jaz Brisack of Starbucks Workers United to give us some updates from the unionization efforts on the ground. Then, Sam is joined by Michael Bronski, professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Harvard University, to discuss his recent piece in the Boston Review ”Grooming and th...
Emma hosts Treva B. Lindsey, professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the Ohio State University, to discuss her recent book America, Goddam: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice. First, Emma dives into the right pitching the same nonsense solutions to gun violence, ad...
Emma hosts Amia Srinivasan, Professor of Social and Political Theory at the University of Oxford, to discuss her recent book The Right to Sex: Feminism in the 21st Century. Then Emma is joined by Melanie D’Arrigo, candidate for Congress in New York’s 3rd district, to give us an update from the ca...
Emma hosts Drew Pendergrass, doctoral student in Environmental Engineering at Harvard University, and Troy Vettese, environmental historian at the European University Institute, to discuss their recent book Half-Earth Socialism: A Plan to Save the Future From Extinction, Climate Change, and Pande...
Emma hosts Gina Dent, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to discuss her recent book Abolition. Feminism. Now., co-written with Angela Davis, Erica Meiners, and Beth Richie. Professor Dent and Emma begin by discussing how the mainstream roles of fe...
Sam and Emma host Vivek Chibber, professor of sociology at New York University, to discuss his recent book The Class Matrix: Social Theory After the Cultural Turn, on the postwar shift in the left from strategic takes on the material condition of the working class to an analysis of capitalist ind...
Emma hosts Deva Woodly, Associate Professor of Politics at the New School for Social Research, to discuss her recent book Reckoning: Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Necessity of Social Movements, on the growing importance of Radical Black feminist pragmatism in an age where politics are see...
Emma hosts Rachel Greenwald Smith, professor of English at St. Louis University, to discuss her recent book On Compromise: Art, Politics, and the Fate of An American Ideal, on compromise in art and politics, and as an American ideal. Professor Greenwald-Smith and Emma first back up and look at ho...
Sam and Emma host David Wengrow, Professor of Comparative Archaeology at University College London, to discuss his recent book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity that he co-authored with David Graeber. They begin by clarifying what the old history was, which Professor Wengrow descr...
Sam hosts Jamelle Bouie, opinion columnist at the New York Times and co-host of the Unclear and Present Danger podcast, to wrap up the week in news! And in the second half, Sam is joined by Jamie Peck, in her triumphant return to MR (!) and Jorge Rocha, co-hosts of the Everybody Loves Communism p...
Emma hosts Rafia Zakaria, weekly columnist at The Baffler, to discuss her recent book Against White Feminism: Notes on Disruption, on how feminist thought has been by the ideology of whiteness, allowing a feminism to surface that reinforces capitalism and the exploitation of women of color. Parti...
Sam and Emma host Mike Hulme, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Cambridge, to discuss his recent book Climate Change, which covers how public opinion on climate change has shifted over the last few decades, and what we can do to move towards policy solutions. They start off with a...
Sam and Emma host public sector immigration lawyer Daniel Melo to discuss his recent book Borderlines: The Edges of U.S. Capitalism, Immigration, and Democracy, which contextualizes immigration policy within the history of the US, and exploring what we can do to push back against the unfair desig...
Sam and Emma host Amanda Montell, linguist and host of the Sounds Like A Cult podcast, to discuss her recent book Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, on the social role of cults, how it has changed, and the influence it has on our language today. They start off by looking at the discourse around...
Sam hosts Paul Sabin, professor of history at Yale University and director of the Yale Environmental Humanities Program, to discuss his recent book Public Citizens: The Attack On Big Government and the Remaking of American Liberalism, on how the US went from eras defined by government action unde...
Sam and Emma host Richard Alba, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY), to discuss his recent book The Great Demographic Illusion: Majority, Minority, and the Expanding American Mainstream, on the failure of the Majority/Minority mode...
Emma hosts Orville Vernon Burton, Professor of Pan-African Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, and Computer Science at Clemson University, as well as civil rights attorney Armand Derfner, to discuss their recent book Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court, on the progressions, and regressions...
Emma hosts Karen L. Cox, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, to discuss her recent book No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice, on the history and reckoning over confederate monuments in the US. Professor Cox brings us b...
Emma hosts Jon N. Hale, Associate Professor of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership at the University of Illinois, to discuss his recent book The Choice We Face: How Segregation, Race, and Power Have Shaped America’s Most Controversial Education Reform Movement, on the misrepresentation...
Emma hosts Hahrie Han, director of the SNF Agora Institute and Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, to discuss her recent book Prisms of the People: Power & Organizing in Twenty-First-Century America, that she co-authored with Elizabeth McKenna and Michelle Oyakawa. Hah...
Emma hosts writer Jess McHugh to discuss her recent book Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History In Thirteen Bestselling Books, which focuses on the books that shaped and grew the myth of American Exceptionalism over the last couple of centuries. Beginning with the Old Farmer’s Almanac and Webster...
Sam and Emma host author Elinor Cleghorn to discuss her new book, Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World on how healthcare and medical treatment have underserved women and their health needs. They start the conversation by discussing Elinor’s personal experiences that brought her...
Sam hosts Tim Jackson, University of Surrey professor of sustainable development, and author of the book Post Growth: Life after Capitalism on what a world can look like after the fall of the free market and our incessant chase for endless growth. Professor Jackson traces his vision from his orig...
Sam and Emma host David Roediger, American Studies professor at the University of Kansas, to discuss his latest book, The Sinking Middle Class: A Political History, on the relatively recent phenomena of centering the middle class in political rhetoric and how both parties use it as a cudgel to be...
Sam and Emma host trans activist and law professor Dean Spade to discuss his book Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) on what we learned about collective action through the Covid-19 pandemic and how to better prepare for the next one. They explore what mutual aid is,...
Sam and Emma host Heather McGhee, a senior fellow at Demos, to discuss her new book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together on how the legacies of slavery and systemic racism hurt all Americans in material ways. They explore her concept of “drain pool politics,” ...
On today’s show: Sam hosts Michael Sandel (@JusticeHarvard), Professor of Political Philosophy at Harvard University, to discuss his new book The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?, on the shortcomings of the “meritocratic” system and what we can do to fix it. The myth of the Ame...
Sam hosts USC Law Professor Jody Armour (@niggatheory) to discuss his new book N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law and the importance of eradicating anti-black bias in America.
Donald Trump’s private thoughts on Covid from April 13 are a bit of a contrast from his public statment on April 17.
Sam is joined by Martha S. Jones (@marthasjones_), Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, to discuss her new book, ‘Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All.’
The Majority Report continues to look back at Michael Brooks’s career with a 2019 interview featuring Liz Franczak (@liz_franczak) to discuss her essay in the Baffler, “The Century of Spin,” and the origins of neoliberal sociopolitical culture. Liz Franczak recounts the story of Edward Bernays, w...
Sam hosts former Republican strategist and consultant Stuart Stevens (@stuartpstevens) to discuss his new book It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump on how the GOP was always destined to become the party of Trump.
Sam hosts historian Federico Finchelstein (@FinchelsteinF) to discuss his new book, A Brief History of Fascist Lies, why fascists regard obvious and often hateful lies as truth, and why so many of their followers have believed the falsehoods.
Sam hosts Geraldo Cadava (@gerry_cadava), professor of history at Northwestern University, to discuss his new book The Hispanic Republican: The Shaping of an American Political Identity, from Nixon to Trump and the post-war efforts by conservatives to make inroads with the largest growing demogra...
Sam hosts Touré F. Reed, professor of history at Illinois State University, to discuss his new book Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism and the reforms needed to address racial inequality and disparities.
Sam hosts Chryl Laird (@chryllaird), Assistant Professor of Political Science at Bowdoin College, to discuss her book Steadfast Democrats: How Social Forces Shape Black Political Behavior, which explains why African-Americans are the most unified voting bloc in American history.
Dr. Danna Young (@dannagal), a Communication & Political Science Professor at University of Delaware, joins Sam to discuss her new book, Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Rage, Fear, and Laughter in the United States. 
Political scientist Davin L. Phoenix (@Davin_Phoenix) joins the Majority Report to discuss his book, The Anger Gap: How Race Shapes Emotion in Politics, and explains how anger animates political participation amongst different demographic groups in America.
Syracuse University Professor of Political Science, Elizabeth F. Cohen, joins the Majority Report to discuss her new book, Illegal: How America’s Lawless Immigration Regime Threatens Us All. In it, Cohen chronicles the past century’s history of immigration, white nationalism, and the militarizati...
Happy Thursday! Sam hosts Thom Hartmann to discuss his new book The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote and How to Get It Back. 
Happy Tuesday! Sam hosts Ganesh Sitaraman of Vanderbilt Law School to discuss his new book The Great Democracy: How to Fix Our Politics, Unrig the Economy, and Unite America. Sam also interviews progressive candidate Morgan Harper, who is challenging Joyce Beatty in Ohio’s 3rd District.
Happy Thursday! Michael Brooks hosts Eric Blanc, author of Red State Revolt: The Teachers’ Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics, to discuss his experience organizing, the state of strikes in France, and why single-payer is the way forward on healthcare.
Digby (Heather Parton) (@digby56) and Film Guy Matthew Weiss (@langdonboom) join us on the last show of the decade.
Good Thursday morning, Michael Brooks hosts anthropologist Isabel Peñaranda and sociologist Julián Gómez-Delgado to discuss the ongoing general strike in Columbia and their piece in the Jacobin, “Colombia’s New Awakening.” As Columbia joins the global wave of social unrest, can the popular uprisi...
Meaghan Winter, author of ‘All Politics Is Local: Why Progressives Must Fight for the States’ joins us.
Robert Kuttner (@rkuttnerwrites), founder and editor of The American Prospect, joins us. Read his piece on the Green New Deal here.
Good Monday morning, the Majority Report is back from the Thanksgiving holiday with a new interview featuring journalist Liz Plank on her new book, For the Love of Men: A New Vision for Mindful Masculinity.  Sam and Plank begin their conversation discussing the need to expand the context surround...
On today’s show, Andrew Marantz (@andrewmarantz), author of, Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, And the Hijacking of the American Conversation. We are live at 12:00.
Sam is out today, Michael Brooks hosts Professor Djene Bajalan to discuss the growing protests in Iraq and Iran.
Harvey J Kaye (@harveyjkaye), Professor of Democracy at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay and author of Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again, joins us.
Good morning, on today’s Majority Report Michael Brooks hosts Matt Karp, professor of History at Princeton University, for his latest piece in the Jacobin, “Is This the Future Liberals Want?” Join as Karp and Brooks discuss the prospects of Trump in 2020 and the potential pitfalls of “progressive...
Ian Haney López (@IanHaneyLopez), Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley, joins us to discuss his book, ‘Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America.’
On today’s show, Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt), author of, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present and Future of American Labor. Sam and Greenhouse begin their conversation distinguishing the differences between labor and union power and a brief history of how labor gained strength during ...
Caleb Cain (@faradayspeaks) is a self-described “gamer who fell down the alt-right rabbit hole” before eventually making his way back to the left. He joins Sam to discuss the YouTube personalities who drove his radicalization as a young college dropout, what helped bring him back, and his current...
Alexandra Minna Stern, professor of American Culture at the University of Michigan, joins us to discuss her book, ‘Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right Is Warping the American Imagination.’
Samuel Stein joins Sam to discuss his book, Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State. In this book, Stein shows how the $200T real estate industry has accounted for more than 60% of the global assets and how urban planning policy has enabled its tremendous growth.
Healthcare advocate Timothy Faust (@crulge) joins us to discuss his book, “Health Justice Now: Single Payer and What Comes Next.”
Margaret O’Mara (@margaretomara), Professor of History at the University of Washington, joins us to discuss her book, The Code: Silicon Valley And the Remaking of America.
Journalist Emily Guendelsberger, author of ‘On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane,’ joins us.
On today’s show, Jennifer L. Eberhardt, author of, Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, And Do. Dr. Eberhardt’s take a look at the difference between what we understand in our culture as racism and the implicit biases we pick up within our society.  Through exte...
Good Thursday morning, joining Sam on today’s Majority Report is journalist and scholar Leta Hong Fincher to discuss her book,  Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China. Through interviews with feminists and other leading Chinese activists, Hong Fincher illuminates the difficulties ...
Ruben Andersson, anthropologist and associate professor at Oxford University’s Department of International Development, joins us to discuss his new book, No Go World: How Fear Is Redrawing Our Maps and Infecting Our Politics.
Ryan Grim (@ryangrim), DC bureau chief at The Intercept, Young Turks contributor and author of the new book, We’ve Got People: From Jesse Jackson to AOC, the End of Big Money and the Rise of a Movement, joins us.
Brian Mier (@BrianMteleSUR) of BrasilWire joins Michael Brooks to discuss the protests against austerity taking place in Brazil and their impact on Bolsonaro’s policies and government.
Joining Michael Brooks on today’s Majority Report is Laura Carlsen, a political analyst and director of the Americas Program at the Center for International Policy, to discuss Mexico under the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. While the mainstream media is happy to cover the humanitarian...
Happy Friday! Today on the Majority Report Michael Brooks is joined by Bhaskar Sunkara, editor of the Jacobin and author of the new book The Socialist Manifesto, and comedian David Feldman, host of The David Feldman Show, to recap the week’s biggest stories. Bhaskar Sunkara calls in from his book...
Sam speaks with Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski, authors of The People’s Republic of Wal-Mart: How the World’s Biggest Corporations Are Laying the Foundation for Socialism. 
Author Kate Manne joins us to discuss her new book, ‘Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny.’
Edgar Villanueva joins Sam to discuss his new book, ‘Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance.’
Stephanie L. Mudge (@stephaniemudge), author of Leftism Reinvented: Western Parties from Socialism to Neoliberalism, joins us.
Journalist and author Reniqua Allen (@rnz1) joins us to discuss her new book, It Was All A Dream: How A New Generation is Navigating the Broken Promise of America.
Good morning on today’s show, Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) and Julian E. Zelizer (@julianzelizer), co-authors of Fault Lines A History of the United States Since 1974.
Journalist and author Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) joins us to discuss her latest book, ‘Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger.’
MR reports on the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that left 11 dead.