Podcasts

Favourites

Economic Update

One of my favourite economists is Richard D. Wolff because he explains economic ideas and contemporary economic issues in plain language. (Incidentally, that's how most things should be presented.) Like a lot of other podcasts here, I disovered Economic Update after hearing Wolff's interviews on The Jacobin Show.

Class Unity

Class Unity is a group and podcast centered around class politics. What the group represents is best explained on their website, https://classunity.org. I especially like this podcast, however infrequent they post, because they represent politics I align with most, perhaps even moreso than Jacobin's.

Confronting Capitalism

Vivek Chibber is an intellectual force of nature. He addresses everything from "wokeness" in the West, to global geopolitics, to the labour movement.

Recommended

Jacobin

I first learned about The Jacobin Show on YouTube in 2019, after I read this article about why crowdfunding sucks. I was instantly hooked on their work, because it was the first time I found an active media outlet that took positions I agreed with. I no longer listen to every show they upload, due to a mix of time constraint and disinterest. But they're still more palatable than mainstream media outlets, which present news through a neoliberal lens that I find increasingly abhorrent over time.

This Is Revolution

TIR is similar to Jacobin, in that it covers a variety of topics: love/dating, identity politics, and sometimes just making fun of the culture wars. TIR releases episodes most frequently out of all the podcasts here.

Give Them An Argument

Ben Burgis takes a mostly academic and sometimes philosophical approach to current political affairs in the U.S. It sometimes gets repetitive, but right wing media rarely produces anything novel, and the point of GTAA is to respond to such media.

American Prestige

Derek Davison and Daniel Bessner's sarcasm is the only way I can keep up with current events around the world without becoming bored or too sad. Their interviews can get very academic depending on their guests, so I mostly pay attention to their weekly news updates. It's depressing, despite their best efforts to joke as much as possible. But simply describing world events often evokes such feelings.

Ones and Tooze

Adam Tooze and Cameron Abadi say enough interesting things on this show to keep my interest and make it to this list. The topic variety is the highlight: the economics of love, fireworks, or even the Tour de France, to give some examples. It's palatable, but sometimes annoyingly technocratic. I don't always agree with their views, but I do more often than not.

Bungacast

Strangely, I like the work of the people involved with Bungacast's affiliate, Damage magazine, more than I like the podcast itself. One particular highlight for me is episode 430, "Welcome to the Tourist Age", featuring Marco d'Eramo.

Political Theory 101

Benjamin Studebaker and his co-host analyse the works of famous philosophers and politicans. Out of all the podcasts here, this is the hardest for me to follow. To fully appreciate the depth of his and his co-host's analyses, I think it's best to be fully engaged in listening, or have some background knowledge of each episodes' subjects.

Ended

A World To Win

Grace Blakely mostly covered UK events and interviewed guests from Europe. The show ended some years ago, but Blakely still shares her thoughts as a guest on other shows.

Cargo Cult

I first learned about these hosts on an episode of Give Them An Argument. Cargo Cult's approach to the tech world, its failures and idiosyncracies was just so funny. While the show has likely ended, some of the issues they discussed are ongoing, such as Neom, and the continued development of AI.

Disclaimer

Podcasts ultimately range from switch-your-brain-off entertainment to genuinely valuable edutainment. Unless stated otherwise above, I would suggest listening to these shows while doing something else on the side. If you really want to learn something, it's probably better to read or watch a video with your full attention.