Latest Blog Posts
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Living The Dream under The Accord (podcast)
Last week I was interviewed on the wonderful ‘Living the Dream’ podcast. We discussed the Accord, neoliberalism and the ALP Hawke-Keating government. Our focus was on recent articles by Van Badham and Wayne Swan in The Guardian, and how the ALP and unions are attempting to understand and frame the experience of the Hawke-Keating government today. I discuss […]
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Wen you laugh togetha
By Elizabeth Humphrys and Jackie Lynch. This article first appeared on Overland Journal. The AFLW (Women’s Australian Football League) has happened and we couldn’t be happier about it, even if that happiness is often expressed in joyous weeping. There’s something quaint and precious about this beginning – the huge grins on the players’ faces […]
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Transcript: Morbid symptoms presentation
The following is the text of a presentation I gave this week, as part of the Sydney Historical Research Network seminar series ‘History Now’. This week’s topic was ‘The History of Class Now’. *** If the ruling class has lost its consensus, i.e. is no longer ‘leading’ [or directive: dirigente] but only ‘dominant’, exercising coercive […]
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Will artificial intelligence destroy capitalism?
I recently took part in an episode of Think: Digital Futures, on ‘Will artificial intelligence destroy capitalism?’: There’s no doubt that artificial intelligence is going to be smarter than humans — they’re already driving cars and sorting files for us. So if no job is safe from AI, how do we make money? Will capitalism […]
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Morbid symptoms in the history of class now
Next week I am speaking at the Sydney Historical Research Network seminar, as part of their History Now series. The topic is ‘The History of Class Now’. Speaking chronologically are Hannah Forsyth (ACU), Terry Irving (University of Wollongong) and myself (UTS). This is the abstract for my talk: Morbid Symptoms in the history of class now Gramsci says in one of […]
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The pathologisation of Trump
Dr Tad Tietze and I are currently writing a book on the unravelling of contemporary politics in advanced capitalist countries, which includes a consideration of the tendency to pathologise anti-politics and in particular Donald Trump and those who voted for him. Tad recently appeared on The Third Rail TV show, which you can watch online. Many […]
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Is the term neoliberalism useful?
Originally published at PPE. There is an emerging body of literature questioning the usefulness of the term ‘neoliberalism’. This work has highlighted the tendency for new analysis to simply add another yet more precise definition of neoliberalism in an effort — as Rajesh Venugopalsays — ‘to refine, complicate and extend old concepts, or to […]
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Response to Megalogenis in Quarterly Essay
I recently had a short piece, co-authored by Tad Tietze, printed in response to George Megalogenis’ essay ‘Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession and Renewal’. The Megalogenis essay is available in Quarterly Essay Issue 61, and our response in Issue 62. Here is a short excerpt of the response: We believe that no matter how brilliant and balanced a reform program […]
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Simultaneously deepening corporatism and advancing neoliberalism
Audio of my seminar at the University of Sydney, exploring the Accord in the context of neoliberalism in Australia is now online here.