Macrodose

Latest Episodes:

Macrodose: A Theory Sep 11, 2024

Show notes

James returns after a Summer break! This week we're running a special episode on Macrodose theory, taking you behind the scenes to look at some of the theoretical building blocks of how we put the show together (1:23).

What is Macrodose, why are we doing it, and who are the thinkers we should be reading to understand the world we now live in today?

READING LIST

Michael Kidron 'Failing growth and rampant costs': https://www.marxists.org/archive/kidron/works/2002/xx/ghosts.htm

Jason W. Moore & Raj Patel 'The History of the World in Seven Cheap Things': https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/817-a-history-of-the-world-in-seven-cheap-things?srsltid=AfmBOoovsDH9x0Ul8B5VanJBOwDVnQwTDcwd7Dcl0M9wXADgRgze-HBi

Jason W. Moore 'Capitalism and the way of life': https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/74-capitalism-in-the-web-of-life?srsltid=AfmBOopvBjmgELZS0p0byISi61atpkB_6TxzT96WxfkUwf4QAiGmWHDg

Kohei Saito 'Karl Marx’s Ecosocialism': https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/karl-marxa-tm-s-ecosocialism-capital-nature-and-the-unfinished-critique-of-political-economy-kohei-saito/2345756

Tithi Battacharyya 'Social Reproduction Theory': https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745399881/social-reproduction-theory/

Mike Davies 'Old Gods, New Enigmas': https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/820-old-gods-new-enigmas?srsltid=AfmBOorvAsqCHVKnEPCn-ynLLGA40RuCFWNZOpVpbD2HZGWiuVBA3VZp

Thomas Philippon 'Additive Growth': https://www.nber.org/papers/w29950

Potsdam Institute Research: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/38-trillion-dollars-in-damages-each-year-world-economy-already-committed-to-income-reduction-of-19-due-to-climate-change

Isabella Weber: https://academic.oup.com/icc/article/33/2/297/7603347

Enjoy! As always, a massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers - you make this show possible.

Find our socials, newsletter and more here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk ⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠planetbproductions.co.uk ⁠⁠

My Boss is a Robot w/ Craig Gent Sep 04, 2024

Show notes

On this week's Macrodose, Craig Gent explores algorithmic management. What is at stake when we speak of the creeping introduction of algorithms? Is it just an inevitable fact of the long march toward progress? Or does it open a new frontier that we need to take seriously and strategically?

Craig Gent is a writer and researcher and the North of England Editor at Novara Media. He’s also the author of a new book Cyberboss: The Rise of Algorithmic Management and the New Struggle for Control at Work, which is out this month tinyurl.com/3sxy2nsf

A massive thank you to all of our existing Patreon subscribers, your support keeps the show running and we are very grateful. If you have the means and enjoy our work, head over to ⁠⁠patreon.com/Macrodose⁠⁠ and subscribe today.

Find our socials, newsletter and more here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠

The Break Down: The End of Liberalism? w/ Chris Shaw Aug 29, 2024

Show notes

As a listener of The Break Down, chances are you’re living in a political system that could be defined as “liberal”. But what does “liberalism” really describe? Is it about democracy? Free markets? The protection of individual freedom? Ask ten different people, and you’re likely to get ten different answers.

According to Chris Shaw, liberalism can boiled down to a system oriented around the “bourgeoisie” or, to put it more simply, the “middle classes”, in which technocratic governance is preferred to the messiness of politics, in which the individual takes precedence over the collective, and in which the protection of markets and private enterprise takes priority.

In this episode, Chris breaks down the ways in which liberalism has placed a stranglehold over our political imaginations; why this is so crucial when it comes to the climate crisis; and what a climate politics that takes class seriously would look like.

Chris Shaw is an Associate at the University of Sussex and former Director of Research at Climate Outreach, where he spent nearly a decade developing strategies for communicating climate change. His most recent book is called “Liberalism and the Challenge of Climate Change”.

Democratising the Corporation w/ Isabelle Ferreras Aug 28, 2024

Show notes

In this episode of Macrodose, guest host Isabelle Ferreras delves into the often-overlooked contradiction at the heart of modern democratic societies: while we live in democratic states, our workplaces are far from democratic. Isabelle explores the concept of "economic bicameralism" as a solution to bridge this gap and extend democratic principles into the workplace. She argues that if we truly value democracy, we must reconsider how power is distributed in the firms where we spend the majority of our lives.

You can order Democratizing the Corporation:The Bicameral Firm and Beyond, here from Verso Books: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3080-democratizing-the-corporation?srsltid=AfmBOorXp_sAFhpYJ2UZUWLbFyNO4sZvrMDiS-oZ2RVRFSm7jnh9EpCf

Kamala Harris' War on Prices? Aug 21, 2024

Show notes

On this week’s Macrodose James Meadway breaks down: the big tech stock plunge at the start of August (2:30), a brief look at new inflation figures in the UK (12:33) and Kamala Harris’ recent rhetoric on price controls (16:07).

Find our socials, newsletter and more here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠

Automate Laundry not Poetry! w/ Helen Hester Aug 14, 2024

Show notes

On this week's Macrodose, Helen Hester invites you to consider what the world will look like as work becomes increasingly automated. What will this mean for people whose job involves looking after people? What about the domestic caring work that is often unpaid and tends to fall most heavily on women and racialised minorities? How do we envision a world after work?

Helen Hester is a professor of gender, technology and cultural politics at the University of West London. She is also the author of several books including Xenofeminism tinyurl.com/3bke93ye and, most recently, After Work: A history of the home and the fight for free time - co-written with Nick Srnicek tinyurl.com/4de7krcw

Find our socials, newsletter and more here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠

The Break Down: Politics In a World On Fire w/ Geoff Mann Aug 08, 2024

Show notes

“To the question how shall we ever be able to extricate ourselves from the obvious insanity of this position, there is no answer.,” These words were written fifty years ago by philosopher Hannah Arendt, but are just as relevant to the present moment, in which our political leaders and systems continue to fail to grapple with climate and ecological crisis at the scale or urgency they demand. The degree to which these systems are failing has led many to question whether capitalism, democracy or even the nation-state are incompatible with a sustainable future, or whether they can survive accelerating climate change.

In today’s episode, Geoff Mann breaks down these political questions with Adrienne, focusing on the political ‘futures’ sketched in his acclaimed 2018 book “Climate Leviathan”, and asks what kind of politics we need to build a more just and sustainable world.

Geoff Mann is a Distinguished Professor in geography at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. He is the author, with Joel Wainwright, of the acclaimed Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future (Verso, 2018). His work is currently focused on the role of uncertainty in policy and politics.

Labour, Riots and Migration w/ Luke de Noronha Aug 07, 2024

Show notes

On this week's Macrodose, Luke de Noronha unpacks the political economy of migration and what we might expect from the new Labour government. In the context of the recent spate of far-right riots, it's more important now than ever to understand how we got to this point and to unmask the “legitimate concerns about migration” that have supposedly fuelled such racist violence.

Luke de Noronha is an Associate Professor at UCL and the author of Deporting Black Britons: Portraits of Deportation to Jamaica, and the co-author of Empires Endgame: Racism and the British State and Against Borders: The Case for Abolition.

Find our socials, newsletter and more here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠

[LIVE] The Future of Global Politics w/ Verso & The Dig Aug 05, 2024

Show notes

Today we're publishing part two of our sell-out live event recorded at London's Union Chapel on July 26th.

For this discussion we teamed up with our friends over at Verso Books and the Dig Podcast for a podcast extravaganza. Eleanor Penny of the Verso Podcast and Dig host Daniel Denvir sat down with writer and academic Laleh Khalili and the freshly re-elected, newly independent, MP Jeremy Corbyn, to talk about the past present and most importantly the future of Internationalism.

We talked about Palestine, Congo and Iran, about the Labour Party, the welfare state, the climate crisis and the economics of global trade. The event opened up with a live recording of Macrodose podcast which is already up on your feed if you want to take a dive into that.

Thank you so much to everyone who came down sold out the event and brought such an incredible energy to the evening. If you didn’t get the chance to come join us in person never fear we have the full recording for you here and now - I hope you enjoy the show.

[LIVE] The Future of Global Capitalism Jul 31, 2024

Show notes

This week we are very excited to bring you a recording of the live event we hosted with the Verso and Dig podcasts last Friday at the Union Chapel in Islington. The Union Chapel is the most beautiful venue and it was a joy to share the evening with so many of you.

Thank you to Dalia Gebrial who chaired the event and our panelists James Meadway, Thea Riofrancos and Asad Rehman.

Find our socials, newsletter , merch and more here:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or get in touch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠macrodose@planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠

For more about the work we do at Planet B Productions, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠planetbproductions.co.uk⁠⁠

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