Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
When sociologist Michael Young coined the term “meritocracy,” he was warning against the idea that we should have to compete to prove how talented or hardworking we are. A truly egalitarian society would guarantee a dignified existence for us all — regardless of arbitrary measures of how much we deserve it.
Social democratic parties across Europe have suffered “Pasokification,” the fate of the Greek center-left party that lost three-quarters of its voters in just three years. If Britain’s Labour Party wants to avoid similar disasters, it needs an economic radicalism that can show the working class that it’s really on their side.
When state officials can murder ordinary citizens in plain sight and get away with it, our society is less democratic. The Derek Chauvins of the world need to be in prison.
A newly obtained video shows an executive at UnitedHealth Group, the country’s largest health insurer, opposing a proposed public option bill in Connecticut — and actually pushing employees to lobby against the bill.
In his final letter to shareholders before stepping down as Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos promised to do better by workers. Some in the media were impressed, but it’s a standard public relations move right out of the anti-union playbook.
The first three months of Joe Biden’s foreign policy have been a Trump-like travesty: coddling brutal dictators, saber-rattling against nuclear powers, and putting US dominance above human rights.
Last year, both Arizona and California voted on ballot initiatives to tax the rich. So why did it fail in blue state California but pass in libertarian Arizona?
A Democratic leadership that trumpets its support for progressive legislation while refusing to abolish the filibuster looks more interested in pantomiming a fake reformist agenda than actually realizing one.
While the Biden administration continues arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the death toll is only mounting in Yemen. Aid workers on the ground tell us the situation is worse than ever.
The media cheered Moderna’s pledge not to enforce the patents on its COVID-19 vaccine. But vaccines like theirs are still protected by intellectual property laws designed to keep medical knowledge out of the public’s hands.
Former British prime minister David Cameron has been exposed using his contacts in government to help out his new bosses at finance firm Greensill Capital. The scandal points to the cronyism among Britain’s elites — and how a wider culture of privatization and outsourcing provides a breeding ground for corruption.
For decades, academic workers have been subjected to both rising austerity and legal blockages to their organizing efforts. The PRO Act would allow them to fight back.
No matter how much they flaunt their environmental virtue or how much eco-friendly consumption they engage in, the global 1 percent are almost inherently destructive of the climate. There’s only one way to fix the situation: expropriate them.
Minari is a gentle, universal story about a resilient South Korean family trying to make it in 1980s America. You should watch it.
Forty years of neoliberal hollowing out of state capacity is what’s responsible for Europe and Canada’s great failure to quickly vaccinate people.
Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema were at a closed-door event with restaurant lobbyists yesterday bragging about defeating the $15 minimum wage. Manchin even mocked Bernie Sanders for his efforts. It’s a disgrace.
The European Super League fiasco has sparked a heated debate about money in football, with many pointing to Germany’s fan-owned clubs as an alternative. Fan ownership is an important step — but it’ll only work if fans are organized and thinking politically.
Spain’s far-right Vox party began its Madrid election campaign with a rally in the multiracial working-class suburb of Vallecas, prompting clashes with locals. Media responded with a condemnation of the “twin extremisms” — showing how those who defend the poor and marginalized are falsely equated with those who abuse them.
In Australia today, public housing is seen as an option of last resort for poor families only. But the South Australian Housing Authority spent decades building affordable, quality homes for all. We can do the same now.
Modern-day elite philanthropy serves the same purpose as it did in the days of the robber barons: reinforcing the power of the rich.