• Class & Class Analysis
    Nov 22 2024

    In this episode, the dialectic goes to work to explore one of the most fundamental concepts in Marxism: class and class analysis. What is class? What do Marxists mean when they deploy this term? In this episode we discover, via the seminal book Knowledge and Class, how the concept of surplus is used to develop a theory of classes in society. The fundamental and subsumed class framework, first developed by Resnick and Wolff, provides a non-essentialist approach to classes. Prof Wolff and Prof Azhar discuss how multiplicities of class processes can coexist at any point in time and pull and push individuals, communities, and nations in different trajectories.

    About

    The Dialectic at Work is a podcast hosted by Professor Shahram Azhar & Professor Richard Wolff. The show is dedicated to exploring Marxian theory. It utilizes the dialectical mode of reasoning, that is the method developed over the millennia by Plato and Aristotle, and continues to explore new dimensions of theory and praxis via a dialogue. The Marxist dialectic is a revolutionary dialectic that not only seeks to understand the world but rather to change it. In our discussions, the dialectic goes to work intending to solve the urgent life crises that we face as a global community.

    Follow us on social media:

    X: @DialecticAtWork
    Instagram: @DialecticAtWork
    Tiktok: @DialecticAtWork
    Website: www.DemocracyAtWork.info
    Patreon: www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Knowledge and Class
    Nov 8 2024

    This week, and in the next few weeks, the Dialectic goes to explore one of the most important texts in Marxian political economy in modern history: Knowledge and Class. The book, written in 1987 by Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff after decades of research and critical analysis, developed a new “non essentialist” Marxism. The Fundamental and Subsumed Framework, developed in this book, has been used to examine a host of economic settings and situations, including economic analyses of countries, and businesses. It is the method Prof Wolff uses to do economics.

    About

    The Dialectic at Work is a podcast hosted by Professor Shahram Azhar & Professor Richard Wolff. The show is dedicated to exploring Marxian theory. It utilizes the dialectical mode of reasoning, that is the method developed over the millennia by Plato and Aristotle, and continues to explore new dimensions of theory and praxis via a dialogue. The Marxist dialectic is a revolutionary dialectic that not only seeks to understand the world but rather to change it. In our discussions, the dialectic goes to work intending to solve the urgent life crises that we face as a global community.

    Follow us on social media:

    X: @DialecticAtWork
    Instagram: @DialecticAtWork
    Tiktok: @DialecticAtWork
    Website: www.DemocracyAtWork.info
    Patreon: www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Nobel Laureates, Settler Colonialism and Hypocrisy
    Oct 25 2024

    This week the dialectic explores the Nobel Prize in Economics, awarded to Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson for their “contribution to Institutional Analyses” of long-run economic development.

    We critically examine the claim that “settler colonialism” results in progress and development. Professors Wolff and Azhar discuss how the real economic history of colonized and indigenous peoples rebelled against the “whitewashing” in Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson's work.

    The dialectic revisits the work and contributions of Paul Baran, including his analysis of the historical tendencies within capitalist development, and how it leads to under-development in the Global South.

    About

    The Dialectic at Work is a podcast hosted by Professor Shahram Azhar & Professor Richard Wolff. The show is dedicated to exploring Marxian theory. It utilizes the dialectical mode of reasoning, that is the method developed over the millennia by Plato and Aristotle, and continues to explore new dimensions of theory and praxis via a dialogue. The Marxist dialectic is a revolutionary dialectic that not only seeks to understand the world but rather to change it. In our discussions, the dialectic goes to work intending to solve the urgent life crises that we face as a global community.

    Follow us on social media:

    X: @DialecticAtWork
    Instagram: @DialecticAtWork
    Tiktok: @DialecticAtWork
    Website: www.DemocracyAtWork.info
    Patreon: www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Why Does Dialectics Matter for Climate Politics?
    Oct 11 2024

    In this episode, the dialectic discusses the rising temperatures, melting glaciers, droughts, and famines as we have never seen in history; this week the Dialectic at Work explores the position of Capitalism, our dominant economic system, in the Web of Life. Prof. Shahram Azhar discusses the issue with leading environmental historian and historical geographer, Professor Jason W. Moore.

    Professor Moore is the author of numerous books and articles on the subject, including "Capitalism in the Web of Life: Ecology and the Accumulation of Capital", "Anthropocene or Capitalocene", and "A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things".

    About

    The Dialectic at Work is a podcast hosted by Professor Shahram Azhar & Professor Richard Wolff. The show is dedicated to exploring Marxian theory. It utilizes the dialectical mode of reasoning, that is the method developed over the millennia by Plato and Aristotle, and continues to explore new dimensions of theory and praxis via a dialogue. The Marxist dialectic is a revolutionary dialectic that not only seeks to understand the world but rather to change it. In our discussions, the dialectic goes to work intending to solve the urgent life crises that we face as a global community.

    Follow us on social media:

    X: @DialecticAtWork
    Instagram: @DialecticAtWork
    Tiktok: @DialecticAtWork
    Website: www.DemocracyAtWork.info
    Patreon: www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Crisis of Democracy: Revisiting Hegel, Rethinking Political Practice
    Sep 27 2024


    In this episode, the dialectic goes on to explore how Hegel's idea of historical transformation and change in the world of consciousness and thinking can be used to understand the political and economic situation around the world. Drawing upon a host of examples from the past, and the present, from England, France, and the United States, as well as thinking about future possibilities and trajectories, Prof. Wolff and Prof. Shahram Azhar analyze how Hegel's idea of dialectical change can be used to understand and change the world for the better.

    About

    The Dialectic at Work is a podcast hosted by Professor Shahram Azhar & Professor Richard Wolff. The show is dedicated to exploring Marxian theory. It utilizes the dialectical mode of reasoning, that is the method developed over the millennia by Plato and Aristotle, and continues to explore new dimensions of theory and praxis via a dialogue. The Marxist dialectic is a revolutionary dialectic that not only seeks to understand the world but rather to change it. In our discussions, the dialectic goes to work intending to solve the urgent life crises that we face as a global community.

    Follow us on social media:

    X: @DialecticAtWork
    Instagram: @DialecticAtWork
    Tiktok: @DialecticAtWork
    Website: www.DemocracyAtWork.info
    Patreon: www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Crisis of Democracy: Marxism as a Critique of TINA
    Sep 13 2024

    We live at a time when multiple crises surround us. Moreover, we are told that there is no alternative (TINA) so we must all accept the 'lesser of the two evils logic'. This week the dialectic goes to work to critically examine this claim. In particular, we dive into the political situation in France, Germany, and the United States in the context of the electoral process.

    As always, we connect the story with key concepts within Marxist theory. Specifically, we ask why Marxists INSIST that 1) The abolition of wage-labor and its replacement with economic democracy, ie workers' self-directed enterprises is POSSIBLE and 2) that this goal set in step (1) is DESIRABLE, in the precise sense that it will solve the structural problems of our times by going to the ROOT of the issue. In other words, Marxism provides PRECISELY the THIRD alternative we need.

    About

    The Dialectic at Work is a podcast hosted by Professor Shahram Azhar & Professor Richard Wolff. The show is dedicated to exploring Marxian theory. It utilizes the dialectical mode of reasoning, that is the method developed over the millennia by Plato and Aristotle, and continues to explore new dimensions of theory and praxis via a dialogue. The Marxist dialectic is a revolutionary dialectic that not only seeks to understand the world but rather to change it. In our discussions, the dialectic goes to work intending to solve the urgent life crises that we face as a global community.

    Follow us on social media:

    X: @DialecticAtWork
    Instagram: @DialecticAtWork
    Tiktok: @DialecticAtWork
    Website: www.DemocracyAtWork.info
    Patreon: www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

    Show more Show less
    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Crisis of Democracy: Marxism and Dialectical Thought Part 2
    Aug 30 2024

    On this week's episode of the Dialectic at Work, Professor Shahram Azhar and Professor Wolff continue to discuss the crisis of democracy globally, the rise of far-right authoritarianism, the climate crisis, and finally how Marxism can address these issues.

    This discussion took place at the recent No War but Class War Forum on May 31st at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus Sponsored by Historical Materialism and Institute for the Radical Imagination Conference

    About

    The Dialectic at Work is a podcast hosted by Professor Shahram Azhar & Professor Richard Wolff. The show is dedicated to exploring Marxian theory. It utilizes the dialectical mode of reasoning, that is the method developed over the millennia by Plato and Aristotle, and continues to explore new dimensions of theory and praxis via a dialogue. The Marxist dialectic is a revolutionary dialectic that not only seeks to understand the world but rather to change it. In our discussions, the dialectic goes to work intending to solve the urgent life crises that we face as a global community.

    Follow us on social media:

    X: @DialecticAtWork
    Instagram: @DialecticAtWork
    Tiktok: @DialecticAtWork
    Website: www.DemocracyAtWork.info
    Patreon: www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

    Show more Show less
    54 mins
  • Crisis of Democracy: Marxism and Dialectical Thought Part 1
    Aug 16 2024

    On this week's episode of the Dialectic at Work, Professor Shahram Azhar and Professor Wolff discuss the crisis of democracy globally, the rise of far-right authoritarianism, the climate crisis, and finally how Marxism can address these issues.

    This discussion took place at the recent No War but Class War Forum on May 31st at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus Sponsored by Historical Materialism and Institute for the Radical Imagination Conference

    About

    The Dialectic at Work is a podcast hosted by Professor Shahram Azhar & Professor Richard Wolff. The show is dedicated to exploring Marxian theory. It utilizes the dialectical mode of reasoning, that is the method developed over the millennia by Plato and Aristotle, and continues to explore new dimensions of theory and praxis via a dialogue. The Marxist dialectic is a revolutionary dialectic that not only seeks to understand the world but rather to change it. In our discussions, the dialectic goes to work intending to solve the urgent life crises that we face as a global community.

    Follow us on social media:

    X: @DialecticAtWork
    Instagram: @DialecticAtWork
    Tiktok: @DialecticAtWork
    Website: www.DemocracyAtWork.info
    Patreon: www.patreon.com/democracyatwork

    Show more Show less
    44 mins