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Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C. S. Soong.
You may be doing everything by the book, but will you have enough to retire on? If you’re like most Americans, the answer is no. Sociologist James Russell weighs in on how pensions like 401(k)s put all the risk on the individual — and siphon a large part of the rewards off for the financial … Continued
Food justice activists sometimes set up gardens in low-income communities. Margaret Ramírez studied a pair of food organizations in Seattle, including one led by Rev. Robert Jeffrey. Ramírez describes how the racial makeup of the staffers, the legacy of plantation slavery, and the gentrifying momentum created by “white spaces” affected what the two groups were able … Continued
While it may appear an inevitability, how did capitalism come to take hold in the US? Was slave production in the American South actually capitalist or something else? What was the nature of the Civil War and the emergence of sharecropping in the conflict’s wake? Marxist sociologist Charles Post weighs in on these questions, which … Continued
Straight folks, says Jane Ward, engage in a remarkable amount of homosexual sex. In her new book, Ward investigates and interprets same-sex contact between straight white men in a variety of settings, including the military and college fraternities. She also points to a double standard that denies males the sexual fluidity and flexibility routinely assigned … Continued
We rely on automation in all aspects of our lives, from our jobs to our leisure activities. It’s meant to save us time and labor and free us for other pursuits. But does automation make our lives better? Writer Nicholas Carr reflects on the darker side of automation, from mechanized warfare to deskilling on the … Continued
When the US goes to war, its leaders hope and expect Hollywood to make movies that promote war culture and national unity. However, in the wake of 9/11, a number of filmmakers challenged the values and ideology of the US wartime state. Lary May attributes this to the emergence of Hollywood as a global industry catering … Continued
The defeat of the US working class was the requisite condition for the renewal of US empire, which — as much as we keep willing it to decline — maintains its key role as the guardian of global capitalism. So claim Marxist political economists Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch, who in their magnum opus trace … Continued
According to Alex Khasnabish, we’re in the midst of a double crisis, one hammering the general population and the other affecting the work of radical activists. Khasnabish believes that the radical imagination, a collective process that animates social movements, must be nurtured and prioritized. He counterposes the radical imagination to capitalist imaginaries that are foisted … Continued
Testing, grades, homework, learning by rote: these are the foundations of our conventional educational system. Alfie Kohn argues that they are as good as worthless. The maverick education critic discusses the deep-seated problems with traditional schooling and explores the alternative approach of progressive education. He also talks about the pitfalls of competition and national rankings. … Continued
Frank Wilderson, III, believes that all Blacks are slaves, by which he means that every Black person is socially dead and continuously vulnerable to gratuitous (as opposed to reasoned) violence. Wilderson puts all non-Blacks into the category of the “master,” whose sense of human integrity and coherence is maintained precisely by the denigration and physical … Continued
