Bungacast

Latest Episodes:

/551/ Reading Club: Mythologies ft. Catherine Liu May 26, 2026

Show notes

On Roland Barthes' Mythologies.

Alex, George, and contributing editor Catherine Liu delve into Barthes' 1957 classic to understand the form of ideology critique it proposes – and particularly as it relates to left and right.

If the bourgeoisie generates myth, is revolution a cathartic act that gets us beyond myth?
Is the direct producer also unable to speak myth, or is this a romanticisation?
What are predominant left-wing myths today? Is "left vs right" a myth of sorts?
Is the critic of myths condemned to live a "theoretical sociality"? Should people just be allowed to enjoy things?

For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

/550/ The New Dollar Imperialism ft. Costas Lapavitsas May 19, 2026

Show notes

On world money and war.

Costas Lapavitsas, professor of economics at SOAS, London, talks to George and Alex about financialisation, arrested development, and the Strait of Hormuz.

What is the state-led stabilisation of finance capital?
How does today's imperialism differ from prior versions – even if they also inhibited development outside the core?
What is the "liquidity tribute" that developing countries must pay?
How is the war on Iran a perfect case of dollar imperialism: "the dollar and the F35"?
Why is the talk of "colonialism" today a distraction?

London event: History's Back, Baby!

Links:

A Topography of the New Dollar Imperialism, Costas Lapavitsas, NLR
Trump’s Chaotic Imperialism: Economic Warfare, Geopolitical Truculence and Domestic Authoritarianism, Costas Lapavitsas, Socialist Register
For forthcoming Monthly Review article, see here
/139/ Dollar Empire ft. Yakov Feygin & Dominik Leusder
/142/ Dollar Empire (2) ft. Daniel Bessner

History’s back, baby! (Event in London) May 15, 2026

Show notes

History’s back, baby!

Thu 28 May, Verdurin, London

Tickets: https://verdur.in/store/historys-back-baby-admission/

It is obvious today that the “end of history”, postulated by Francis Fukuyama in 1992, is over. Liberal democracy as the final form of human organisation? Pah! The arc of history tending towards justice? Pah!

Will the end of twentieth-century modernity be the start of something new? The building blocks of the past – political parties, ideologies, and institutions – are decaying around us, and nothing new emerges to take their place.

Yet history now has new protagonists: states, corporations, and oligarchs, often acting in synthesis. What if history’s back but not as we wanted it? The stakes are high: the sunset of the US hegemony is in sight and even Fukuyama now agrees on the impending primacy of the “Chinese model”. Yet even such geopolitical shifts aren’t leading to the creation of a new hegemony – disorder is the order of the day.

Five years on from the publication of The End of the End of History, its authors and hosts of Bungacast reflect on a world in a state of accelerated decay, with responses from guests Lee Jones and Nina Power.

They say that “nothing ever happens”. Pah! Something ever happens.

/549/ Why Has Politics Genderised? ft. Ashley Frawley May 12, 2026

Show notes

On angry young women.

Ashley Frawley, sociologist and senior editor at Compact, joins Alex and George to delve more deeply into young people's political polarisation on gender lines.

Why is there a lack of mutual understanding or goodwill between young men and women when we have never been more equal?
Why do differing political views on anything from Israel/Palestine to Donald Trump cause such interpersonal rancour?
Young women are centrally concerned with pain, trauma, and empathy – and see men as lacking. What's behind this?
How is the conservative explanation (bad lefty ideas) just as faulty as the lefty one (patriarchy)?
What will the political consequences be of gender polarisation?

For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Links:

Revealed: the new radicalism among young women, Scarlett Maguire, New Statesman
Meet the Angry Young Women, Emily Lawford, New Statesman
Why young women are so angry, Pippa Bailey, New Statesman
Don’t panic about “Angry Young Women”, Jack Davey, The Critic Magazine
Why do young women hate men?, New Statesman, YouTube
/394/ Girls, Left / Boys, Right ft. Nina Power (see for additional links)
Girls and Boys are becoming very different, Alex Hochuli, Substack

/548/ Post-Legitimate Society ft. Will Charles May 05, 2026

Show notes

On the gig economy, big tech, and ideology.

Sociologist Will Charles talks to Alex about a form of social organisation that has stopped trying to justify itself.

How should the gig economy work and how does it actually work?
Is any worker in this economy a 'true believer'?
Why isn't digital sophistication a proof of economic efficiency?
What's the relationship between secular stagnation, value capture, and rentierism?
Do workers hold to a latent moral economy that could provide the basis for revolt?

Full episode for subscribers only. Sign up: patreon.com/bungacast

Readings:

Muskism and the Myth of Productive Revolution, Will Charles
Post-Legitimate Society, Will Charles & Ryan Gunderson
Muskism Is the Specter Stalking Our Present, Alex Hochuli, Jacobin

Relevant episodes:

/547/ What Are the Politics of Stagnation? ft. Dylan Riley Apr 28, 2026

Show notes

On political capitalism and divided workers.

Sociology professor at UC Berkeley, Dylan Riley, talks to Alex and Lee about economic stagnation, the state propping up capitalism, and class politics.

What is "political capitalism"? And is it true that plunder and predation matter more now than exploitation?
Why hasn't the ruling class purged the system through mass bankruptcies and unemployment?
How does Chinese state capitalism fit into the story of stagnation and excess capacity?
What is the difference between economic interests and class interests? How is the working class divided today?
Is there a way out of the impasse? What possibility is there of a pro-growth politics?

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Links:

Relevant Episodes

Riley & Brenner

Seven Theses on American Politics, New Left Review, 2022
The Long Downturn and Its Political Results, New Left Review, 2025

Some Key Responses

Reflections on Political Capitalism, Lola Seaton, New Left Review, 2023
Notes on ‘Political Capitalism’, John Ganz
Seven Theses on Brenner and Riley's "Political Capitalism", Tim Barker
Robert Brenner’s Unprofitable Theory of Global Stagnation, Seth Ackerman, Jacobin
From Politics to Theory and Back, Benjamin Fong, Damage

Notable pieces in Sidecar by Dylan

/546/ Reading Club: Are We All Post-Liberal Now? ft. Geoff Shullenberger Apr 21, 2026

Show notes

On postliberalism, MacIntyre and Gray.

How was the 1950s "end of ideology" (Bell, Lipset) different from the Fukuyaman 1990s "end of history"?
Is John Gray correct in his characterisation of Alasdair MacIntyre as a prelapsarian?
Does hyperliberal individualism lead to a search for meaning, and thus to communitarianism?
Is the competition between liberalism and post-liberalism now our political spectrum?
Is contemporary liberalism now reducible to professionalisation of the state and civil society?
If liberalism has failed – a basic point of this podcast from the start – has post-liberalism now also failed?

For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Links:

The End of History and the End of the End of History, Alasdair MacIntyre
How to Save British Liberalism, John Gray, New Statesman
What ever happened to post-liberalism, Nicolas D Villarreal, Substack
/533/ Reading Club: Illiberalism?

/545/ Orbanism without Orban: the New European Centre? ft. Szilard Pap Apr 15, 2026

Show notes

On Hungary's elections.

Hungarian political analyst and editor of Partizan, Szilard Pap, talks to Alex about the end of 16 years of Fidesz in government.

What is the scale of Fidesz’s wipeout?
Who is Péter Magyar, and is he actually to the right of Orban?
What was Orban’s rule built on, and what parts of it have been rejected?
Does Orban mark a shift from national-populism to radical conservatism? From anti-politics to hyperpolitics?
What is the impact on global radical right? Was there a global Orbanism, and is it over?
How will this impact European “unity” and will Orban's defeat lead to escalation in Ukraine?

For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Links:

The Mittel Man, Ivan Krastev, Equator
Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian Model Has Collapsed, David Broder, Jacobin

/544/ Iran War: Rogue State USA ft. Arash Azizi Apr 14, 2026

Show notes

On the brave new world we have entered.

Historian Arash Azizi is back on the pod, talking to Alex H and Lee Jones about the ongoing war. We try to draw out some firm consequences, beyond the immediate situtation.

Why did Trump go to war?
Is this Netanyahu's war? And will he continue it regardless of the US?
Will the Islamic Republic become more conservative now?
What has the war revealed about asymmetric warfare? About US vulnerability?
What is the state of the Hormuz weapon now?

For more like this, join us at patreon.com/bungacast

Links:

Arash Azizi:

Reasons to be Hopeful in Iran, Arash Azizi, The Atlantic
/24/ #IranProtest ft. Arash Azizi
/150/ Shadow Commander ft. Arash Azizi
/444/ Opportunism & Revenge in the Middle East ft. Karl Sharro & Arash Azizi

Analyses:

How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman, NY Times
Netanyahu’s Iran War Is Also the War of Global Neocon Elites, Nimrod Flaschenberg, Jacobin
Trump's War, Daniel Luban Dissent Magazine
The world energy shock is coming, Isabella Weber and Gregor Semieniuk, New Statesman
One battle after another: Netanyahu’s new security doctrine, FT
/532/ Is This a Paleocon Foreign Policy? ft. JF Drolet
Atlas Shrugged: Decoding Trump's National Security Strategy, Lee Jones, American Affairs

/543/ Squeamish About Sex, Aroused By Identity ft. Ran Heilbrunn Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

On abolishing queer theory.

Ran Heilbrunn talks to Lee Jones and Alex Hochuli about his chapter, "Abolish Queer Theory!" in the edited collection Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual.

What is queer theory and why should it be abolished?
What is the meaning behind the shift in terms: invert, to homosexual, to gay, to queer?
How does queer theory politicise sex and why is this bad?
Do our libidos care about social inclusion? Can they?
Is identity okay but identity politics bad?

For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast

Links:

Inversion: Gay Life after the Homosexual, Aman Namaman and Pierre d’Alancaisez (eds.), Verdurin, 2025

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