Michael Brownstein
@michaelbrownstein.bsky.social
professor of philosophy and department chair, John Jay College professor of philosophy, CUNY Grad Center alum, Deep Springs College author, Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change
Spent the last 2 days bingeing all 8 episodes of the latest season of The UnMute Podcast with Myisha Cherry, and every one is a banger! Honored to be interviewed on one of the OG philosophy podcasts, "where philosophy and real-world issues collide" www.unmutepodcast.com/all-episodes...
Too cool to be part of this event at @molimuseum.bsky.social! Amazing commentators who share the commitment to merge scholarship with public engagement and civic activism (... and who were also very careful readers of our work for @mitpress.bsky.social!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVqp...
Not every day that you get to give a talk with an opener, the opener plays 17th century Irish folk music, and previous speakers in the series were Thoreau and Emerson. Bet those chumps didn't even have good slides. @madva.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social
Michael Brownstein ; Somebody should do something
YouTube video by Monadnock Summer Lyceum
youtube.com
Four philosophers on social change and why our personal choices still matter in the face of intractable, global, wickedly complex problems @madva.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social
Episode 72: Michael Brownstein, Alex Madva, and Daniel Kelly on Social Change — The UnMute Podcast
Myisha Cherry chats with philosophers Michael Brownstein (John Jay College/CUNY), Alex Madva (Cal Poly Pomona), and Daniel Kelly (Purdue) about structural change, either/or thinking, why individual ch...
unmutepodcast.com
Fox News Poll: Voters say Democrats can better handle income inequality (+22 points), healthcare (+21), inflation (+10), the economy (+9), and foreign policy (+7). More, via Opinion Today: opiniontoday.substack.com/p/260723
AQI in ft. greene is 278. Looks and feels awful outside.
New podcast appearance! (Recorded in December, but still.) @madva.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social
Individual Action vs. Systemic Change: Finding Agency
Individual action vs systemic change: Are individual actions pointless against climate change? Bridge the gap between either/or to both/and thinking.
earthboundpodcast.com
Journalists: please, please get ready for this in ADVANCE. We know Trump's going to claim "new evidence shows the 2020 election was stolen". You've got 3 days to write a story that confronts that lie head-on before he says it - pre-write this like an obit. America is begging you: plan ahead. 1/
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoit's even dumber than you think
Good thread
Zeke Hausfather@zekehausfather.com · 4w agoI enjoyed listening to Bill McKibben on Ezra Klein's podcast. Its refreshing to hear a strong case for a future of clean energy abundance and highlight a lot of positive energy trends. That said, there are a few points where I'd add nuance to Bill's arguments. www.nytimes.com/2026...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The threat of Trump is vast. But don’t underestimate incremental change | Michael Brownstein
The work of making change is difficult. Most of it is boring, unsexy and, at best, modestly incremental from day to day
theguardian.com
Richard M. Nixon@dicknixon.bsky.social · last mo.Yes. You rarely get to change the world overnight. It's rarely a good idea, even if you did. You change it in degrees and bring people around to your way of thinking. Then you remind people all along who did it, and what more can be done. That's politics.
Generally speaking, polls have shown the Democratic Party's problem is not being seen as too woke, but weak and ineffective. Judging by tonight's primary results, Democratic Primary voters are intent on fixing this www.gelliottmorris.com/p/new-poll-d...
New poll: Democrats' real problem isn't being too liberal — it's being seen as too weak
Americans, including swing voters, see the Republican Party as 20 points more extreme than Democrats — and the Democrats as weak and ineffective. So why would the *Democrats* moderate?
gelliottmorris.com
Mamdani's speech at the Knicks parade was easily the best I've ever heard at an event of that sort. I posted the whole thing on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. Highly recommended.
Mamdani Remembers Some Knicks Guys during phenomenal parade speech
YouTube video by Aaron Rupar
youtube.com
Who made the call to swap out bologna sandwiches for PB&J at the March on Washington? I found out from Tom Discenna for the @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social as we shared stories of social change newbooksnetwork.com/somebody-sho... @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social
Michael Brownstein et al., "Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change" (MIT Press, 2025) - New Books Network
newbooksnetwork.com
Every single refugee we've let in since December is supposedly fleeing white genocide.
US accepts only white refugees for sixth consecutive month
The Trump administration is spending more than $100 million to fight the "emergency" of "white genocide" in South Africa.
motherjones.com
Got to visit my grad school alma mater for a book talk and conversation about "moral fragmentation" with @dryan149.bsky.social, @dcameron.bsky.social, @mattlindauer.bsky.social and other terrific scholars. Good times! @madva.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social
Panel - Somebody Should Do Something-
vimeo.com
"Meaningful change happens when individuals work with others to challenge and reshape existing structures" Had a wonderful conversation with Dr Waseem Akhtar for the podcast, Bridging the Gaps: A Portal for Curious Minds www.bridgingthegaps.ie/2026/05/some...
“Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change” with Professor Alex Madva
In their recent book “Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change” Michael Brownstein, Alex Madva, and Daniel Kelly present a novel and scientific account of how personal ch...
bridgingthegaps.ie
Episode of @goodisinthedetails.bsky.social with me and @dryan149.bsky.social is 1 of 3 finalists (out of 155 submissions) for Episode of the Year for HigherEd PodCon! www.edupexperience.com/podconawardf... @mitpress.bsky.social @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social
And the HigherEd PodCon Awards finalists are...
It's YOUR time to #EdUp! And the HigherEd PodCon Awards finalists are... Outstanding Podcast Series “Where What If Becomes What’s Next” (Carnegie Mellon University)…
edupexperience.com
In Slate, Prof. @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social explains how virtue signaling can often be virtuous slate.com/news-and-pol...
We Do a Lot of Sneering at “Virtue Signaling.” It May Be Time to Rethink Our Approach.
Yes, it's good to do good things. It may be even more effective to tell people you're doing them.
slate.com
"It may feel like nothing we can do as individuals will make a difference to stem the climate crisis. But this is a mistake. Individual actions do matter, just not the way we usually think." Check out my new piece with @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social for @slate.com slate.com/news-and-pol...
We Do a Lot of Sneering at “Virtue Signaling.” It May Be Time to Rethink Our Approach.
Yes, it's good to do good things. It may be even more effective to tell people you're doing them.
slate.com
Short essay in @slate.com today with @madva.bsky.social on using social influence for good. Draws from ideas in our recent book with @dryan149.bsky.social. Check it out!
We Do a Lot of Sneering at “Virtue Signaling.” It May Be Time to Rethink Our Approach.
Yes, it's good to do good things. It may be even more effective to tell people you're doing them.
slate.com
slate.com/news-and-pol... It’s @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social & @madva.bsky.social in Slate! & if you’re one of those already thinking about next semester’s syllabi, highly recommend their book ‘somebody should do something’ (w @dryan149.bsky.social)!
We Do a Lot of Sneering at “Virtue Signaling.” It May Be Time to Rethink Our Approach.
Yes, it's good to do good things. It may be even more effective to tell people you're doing them.
slate.com
For this holiday weekend, here’s the mother of all #ScholarSunday threads, my epic 275th of public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ + blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
#ScholarSunday Thread 275 (5/10/26) – Black and White and Read All Over
For this holiday weekend, here’s the mother of all #ScholarSunday threads, my epic 275th of public scholarly writing, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, shar...
blackwhiteandread.com
yeah it is critical that dems win the senate
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 4mo agoHuh.
@michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social @mattlindauer.bsky.social, Chuck Huff and Ben Jones will all be on hand to talk about their books. Come by and say hi! Thanks to @wiktoriampedryc.bsky.social for the poster and helping to organize. More on the rest of the event here...
Moral Fragmentations and Boundaries - Consortium on Moral Decision-Making
This event through the Consortium on Moral Decision-Making will bring together several scholars in the social sciences and humanities to talk about different disciplinary approaches to the study of “f...
moralconsortium.psu.edu
Celebrating Dr. Alex Madva 👏 As part of the 2025–26 Provost’s Awards for Excellence at Cal Poly Pomona, Dr. Madva—Professor of Philosophy, CO-Director for the DHC and CCEP—is recognized for his exceptional, field-shaping scholarship. His work spans
