I suspect many readers will find this essay as engaging as I do. See here: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/wp-content/files_mf/1426269747ACautiousCaseforSocialism.pdf

  I see a lot of critiques and defences of “identity politics”. No doubt we will be seeing even more as the US Democratic Primary winds up. It's the sort of debate which is all about definitions. If identity politics is understood as “politics concerned with the struggles of oppressed minorities”, then the debate is … Continue reading A few theses about “identity politics” and its false oppositions

For the establishment democrats, pragmatism always mean going further right. That there might be a pragmatic case to use left-wing demands strategically- e.g. as an ambit claim, as a point of differentiation, or to rally a base, never seems to occur to them. The whole point of being pragmatic is situational flexibility, but what they … Continue reading A very brief note on “pragmatism” and establishment democrats

I was talking with someone the idea about the use of "incel" as an insult. The purported meaning of the insult is that the person is a particular misogynist. However I argued this isn't why the incel insult can be so funny when done right. Like almost all the funniest insults, it doesn't just accuse … Continue reading Learning to let go

Let’s say that politics is the formation and use of coalitions for determining matters of social concern within a group. I was listening to a talk today about human evolution as a process of finding a cognitive niche by Andrew Whiten when he made two critically important points which, while I was aware of them … Continue reading The egalitarian past (and future?) of politics