The Social Transformation That's Happened in the Rise of the Car Economy

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The rise of the car economy to its structurally central position does actually demand a form of political organization that can correspond to the role of social reproduction in our society now. And it's difficult to know what that would look like, except for something like a kind of a party. It might look something like what chicago and alley teachers have done with bargaining for the common good - although on much scale.

Historian Gabriel Winant discusses The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America. It's a fascinating study of the emergence of the service sector and a new working class out of the wreckage of deindustrialization through the story of the rise and fall of unionized steel in Pittsburgh and its replacement by a massive hospital industry. Listen to my past interview with Winant on the social worlds that make US politics and how that sociality is rooted in the economy, carceral state, social media, religion, and more thedigradio.com/podcast/the-social-question-with-gabriel-winant Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out The After-Normal: Brief, Alphabetical Essays on a Changing Planet, by David Carlin and Nicole Walker rosemetalpress.com/books/the-after-normal