Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, just used his political influence to shut down a bipartisan deal to keep the government open. It’s obscene — but it’s just one example of the ways billionaires dominate American democracy.
Canada, like the US and other countries, is grappling with acute political dealignment. Plummeting working-class support for center-left parties highlights the failure of liberal policies and the appeal of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s populism.
With the Amazon on the edge of collapse, climate pledges remain heavy on words and light on action. With progress stalling out on key issues like climate finance at COP29, delegates to COP30 in Brazil next fall have their work cut out for them.
Award-winning filmmaker Francisco Lezama’s trilogy of short films captures how inflation and currency speculation have warped Argentine society, creating a dystopian split between those who can and can’t escape poverty using US dollars.
Socialist legislator Zohran Mamdani is running for New York City mayor against a corrupt, unpopular mayor. Morris Hillquit did the same thing a century ago.
“Buy now, pay later” companies like Klarna present themselves as friendly, interest-free alternatives to credit cards. Consumer advocates warn that the services don’t have proper guardrails, leading to potentially dangerous consequences for users.
Former United Teachers Los Angeles president Alex Caputo-Pearl lays out a “block and build” strategy for labor to defeat the rising right-wing attacks on workers and democracy in the coming Donald Trump administration.
If German public debate is infamous for its pro-Israel dogmas, the situation is as bad in Austria. While the far-right Freedom Party is now normalized, pro-Palestinians are silenced in the name of “anti-fascist” solidarity with Israel.
The US New Left spawned a generation of progressive economists who sought to challenge economic orthodoxy. For the “popular economics” movement, that has meant taking on pro-capitalist economics in academia as well as the public sphere.
Based on William S. Burroughs’s cult novel, Luca Guadagnino’s Queer finds an American expat looking for love among the men of 1950s Mexico. But a story about thwarted desires runs into problems when you cast a Hollywood hunk like Daniel Craig.
Big Tech and Wall Street are deploying an on-demand nursing model across America. Created to solve a nursing shortage that doesn’t exist, it creates unsafe conditions for both medical professionals and patients.
Even in states carried by Donald Trump, voters passed ballot measures supporting paid sick leave, higher minimum wages, and unionization rights while rejecting school privatization. Voters want progressive economic policies.
In his latest book, right-wing provocateur Jordan Peterson looks to extract existential and political lessons from the Old Testament. Far from probing deep truths, it’s a shallow, self-serving exercise in culture war.
Commentators like the New York Times’ Bret Stephens have called slain CEO Brian Thompson a “working-class hero.” You don’t have to condone murder to see through that ridiculous claim about a man who was at the helm of a legalized extortion racket.
As major fast-food corporations like McDonald’s and Taco Bell transformed into almost fully franchised operations, the chains created a system that shields them from accountability on labor issues while maintaining strict control over working conditions.
US and European governments are refusing to lift sanctions on Syria, punishing its people for a situation that is out of their control even though the intended target of the sanctions, Bashar al-Assad, is out of the picture.
Construction workers pooled their wages to erect the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 1931, bringing holiday cheer to themselves on the job site. Their billionaire bosses co-opted the gesture, transforming it into today’s consumer spectacle.
Despite antitrust regulators’ efforts to rein it in, UnitedHealth Group has been growing to control ever more of the health care sector. The corporation’s expanding power has meant worse care, higher prices, and a mounting human toll.
The ICC’s arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of genocide has attracted global attention. But in Israel, he faces a trial for corruption to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars that could mean the end of his political career.
Yesterday Donald Trump confirmed that he’s considering privatizing the US Postal Service. That would be a big step in the direction of a libertarian dystopia.