The Role of Racial Capitalism in Britain's Future

MACRODOSE EXTRA takes you behind the scenes to go in-depth with some of the leading voices from the world of economics. Subscribe today at patreon.com/macrodose to hear the full version of this interview, as well as our recent episodes with Greek politician Yanis Varoufakis, labour journalist Sarah Jaffe, and former finance trader Gary Stevenson. 

You’ll also gain access to our upcoming interviews with FT reporter Yuan Yang and contributing editor to the LRB, James Butler.

Our guest today is Gargi Bhattacharyya. Gargi is Professor of Sociology in the Institute for Connected Communities at the University of East London. They are also an activist, organiser and author of Rethinking Racial Capitalism, an account of the entanglement between capitalism and racism, which tracks their historical interconnections as a route to better understanding their interactions today.. 

Gargi is also author of We the Heartbroken, a new book out just this month from Hajar Press. In it they explore the role of emotion, grief and tragedy in building solidarity - and argue that  heartbreak can become the class consciousness of our time. 

In this interview we touch on both of these works. We started by discussing the concept of racial capitalism. What does the term mean, and why does Gargi think it is a useful framework for understanding the economy today?