Last year, when Bernie Sanders announced he would run for president in the Democratic Party primary, few imagined the support he would win. Many assumed that his self-identification as a democratic socialist would alienate voters. Yet the primary season has seen him achieve some surprising victories.

Few are better equipped to understand such a phenomenon — or the troubling rise of Donald Trump — than Marxist sociologist Mike Davis. His work on the American working class and political formation gives him a unique perspective on today’s political moment and its meaning for the Left.

In this interview, Maria Christina Vogkli, a London School of Economics sociology alumnus, and George Souvlis, a PhD candidate in history at the European University Institute in Florence, speak with Davis about the roots of his political identity, the pernicious effects of Clintonite policies, and the importance of this year’s presidential primaries.