I wrote a thing

Very cool to see the concept "class dynamism" being used by David Markus to interpret the photography of LaToya Ruby Frazier at the Smithsonian's journal, American Art. This is a very thoughtful critique of Walter Benn Michaels' interpretation of her work.

How should democratic socialists govern? Re-upping my new essay at Hammer + Hope on the dual strategy of mobilization and incorporation.

What should the left do when it governs? My new one from @hammerandhope.bsky.social

By shifting control of collective wealth into the hands of unaccountable financial institutions, asset manager capitalism has eroded democratic structures. Our video of the week calls for democratizing finance to strengthen working-class power. Featuring @itsmccarthy.bsky.social buff.ly/3lvf3Zv

Let’s go Knicks!

Must read

Military Keynesianism, but domestic

What a week. My book with @versobooks.bsky.social was a winner of The Theory Prize, which is awarded by the American Sociological Association's Theory Section every two years. Congratulations to the others recognized. Very pleased to win it alongside Zophia Edwards, whose book is a must read.

New Theory Decay

I’m honored to share that my book, The Master’s Tools on @versobooks.bsky.social, is a winner of the 2026 Outstanding Contribution to Political Sociology Book Award from the American Sociological Association.

Seattle, Santa Cruz and Irvine: the book tour for EXTRACTION is coming your way. 5/19 UW-Seattle talk and Elliott Bay books in convo w @mmcntsh.bsky.social 5/20 World Affairs Council- Seattle 5/21 University of California Santa Cruz w/ @itsmccarthy.bsky.social 5/27 @ucisocialecology.bsky.social

Spoiler alert: the billionaire is most worried about union wages

Put an English translation on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/theoryde...

Mike McCarthy@itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 4mo ago

It's salvageable, but we shouldn't salvage it. A forum on the future of "liberal democracy." Thoughts from Wendy Brown, Carolin Amlinger, Axel Honneth, Veronica Gago, Isabell Lorey, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Naika Foroutan, Christoph Menke, Rahel Jaeggi, and me.

It's salvageable, but we shouldn't salvage it. A forum on the future of "liberal democracy." Thoughts from Wendy Brown, Carolin Amlinger, Axel Honneth, Veronica Gago, Isabell Lorey, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Naika Foroutan, Christoph Menke, Rahel Jaeggi, and me.

Today, I’m in a forum at the German newspaper Taz on the question, “is liberal democracy worth saving?” My answer is nein: Societies that allow ownership and control to concentrate never produce freedom and democracy.

Need to hold their feet to labor’s fire

San Francisco Chronicle@sfchronicle.com · 4mo ago

The California Service Employees International Union has pulled its support of Sen. Scott Wiener over his opposition to San Francisco’s Prop D, the “Overpaid CEO Act.”

I had a great conversation with Daniel Tutt about ideology, power + domination, and class politics for his Emancipations podcast. We get into the really rich theoretical work of Göran Therborn and provide a bit of an introduction to his approach.

*salutes beaver comrades*

Göran’s Superstructures open.substack.com/pub/theoryde...

Göran’s Superstructures

This is a very provisional draft

open.substack.com

“Bottom Feeder Report”?

Post-Left Watch@postleftwatch.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Matt Taibbi and Michael Tracey make unfunny ''jokes" about how their podcast is actually called "The P*dophile Report" or "Private P*do Party," and make another bad joke about how the backup name for their podcast is "L*lita Express."

For anyone that reads German, I had a great conversation with Maxine Fowé for @surplusmagazin.de about the politics of contemporary finance capital. The link to the conversation is now live.

Really great @dissentmag.bsky.social piece on the use of public lands by my friend, @hiangelo.bsky.social. A must read! dissentmagazine.org/article/a-ne...

A New Vision for Public Lands - Dissent Magazine

Policy debates around public lands point to larger unresolved questions about the nature and function of the public trust. What should we do with this national resource at a moment of major transition...

dissentmagazine.org

“Capitalist democracies are beset by elite-driven, popular divisions that result in a hyper-sensationalized political culture.” @itsmccarthy.bsky.social My current read! 📕 Reminded yet again how so much of what passes for polijournalism stokes this sensationalism.

I will be at UC Berkeley later this moth to give a public talk: "Financial democracy or democratic finance?"

Shocking to see an editorial board with a political axe to grind completely destroy the scientific credibility of a journal in the name of...science! Theory & Society further sinks itself into the bog of bitter sociology in this latest one, an argument for the need to end academic freedom.

substack.com/@theorydecay...

Aspirational Fascism

When you see someone that lived an undeniably good life in the service of others executed by the state and to then have that murder justified by our federal government, it should put the extreme dange...

substack.com

excited to be chairing this upcoming free event on critical theory and psychoanlysis: www.eventbrite.com/e/melanie-kl...

I think we need to come to terms with the fact that many people have been so deeply interpellated by Trumpism that they genuinely want blood. It’s not masking some other hidden motivation, that is the motivation.