Podcasts

Faves

Class Unity

Class Unity is a political organization that hosts a show centered around politics. What the group represents is best explained on their website, https://classunity.org.

Economic Update

Richard Wolff explains economic ideas in plain language. Similar to most other podcasts here, I disovered Economic Update after hearing Wolff's interviews on The Jacobin Show (now defunct).

Confronting Capitalism

Vivek Chibber addresses everything from "wokeness" in the West, to global geopolitics, to the labour movement. I'm really understating the breadth and depth of his knowledge of current and historical events.

Class Matters

Adolph Reed Jr. and various other guests mainly discuss labour and politics in the US. There's some overlap with Confronting Capitalism (Class Matters was first). However, I think Reed and co. offered valuable insight when they started the show in late 2021, which is still surprisingly relevant today. (I haven't finished catching up yet, so don't spoil anything!)

Occasional

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. I mostly keep up with the main show, because TIR releases episodes most frequently out of all the podcasts here.

Give Them An Argument

Burgis takes a mostly academic and sometimes philosophical approach to current political affairs in the U.S. It can get repetitive, but right wing politics is basically repackaging outdated ideas, and the point of GTAA is to make compelling counterarguments against them. (I also already read most of Burgis's writing on Jacobin.)

American Prestige

Davison and 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.

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.

Ended

A World To Win

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

Cargo Cult

Karavani and Greenstein's approach to the tech world and its failures and idiosyncracies was just so funny. 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. I suggest listening to these shows while doing something else on the side. If you really want to learn about something, it's probably better to read or watch something about it using your full attention.