Commentary

Commentary

Test-based accountability reduces teaching and learning to a capitalist mode of production

Just as the profit imperative coldly choreographs the economic encounter, the test score imperative subtracts autonomy from the educational equation. The process of producing test scores deprofessionalizes teachers, disengages students, and mechanicalizes the art of teaching and learning. Teachers are tasked with transforming disimpassioned pupils into rote learners. Instruction becomes a means to the end of testing like the production of goods and services is a means to the end of profiting.

By |2022-11-09T19:19:51-05:00Nov 9, 2022|
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The World-Historical Significance of Paul Robeson

The life and legacy of Robeson is of world-historical significance for struggles against exploitation and oppression. This applies not only to the past struggles through which he lived, but ongoing struggles for racial and economic justice in the 21st century.

By |2022-01-25T08:55:48-05:00Jan 25, 2022|
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The Political Importance of Richard Lachmann

Richard was committed to the rigour necessary for any work of social science worthy of the name. The passing of anyone with such a breadth and depth of knowledge, along with a commitment to social change, is a huge loss to the political left. We will have to make do with the body of work he left behind, which will remain an invaluable resource to Marxists for years to come.

By |2021-10-20T13:12:33-04:00Oct 20, 2021|
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The Dispossession-Versus-Exploitation Dilemma for Informal Workers

Over the past 40 years, however, a formidable body of literature has challenged the prevailing assumptions about informal workers, asserting that their vulnerability stems not from their lack of integration into the mainstream economy, but rather from their subordinated positions within it.

By |2021-09-15T09:27:07-04:00Sep 15, 2021|
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Outcomes of the US “War on Terror”: The Afghanistan-Somalia Comparison

There is some analytical merit in comparing Somalia to Afghanistan, insofar as we are trying to locate the common—often US originated—drivers of instability in these regions. However, let’s not begin (or continue) treating Afghanistan the way we’ve been treating Somalia in terms of US politics and policy. Instead, let’s forge a Left-universalist strategy, based on solidarity, mutual aid, and assistance for all those ravaged by capitalist-empire.

By |2021-09-01T08:54:49-04:00Sep 1, 2021|
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Stanley Aronowitz Knew That Freedom Begins Where Work Ends

Stanley Aronowitz died this week at eighty-eight. He hated work, loved life, and brought his overflowing, exuberant approach to social problems to picket lines, classrooms, and vacation. A fighting left needs more people like him.

By |2021-08-18T15:53:39-04:00Aug 18, 2021|
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Rethinking the Russian Revolution from Across the Empire

Beyond rediscovering the lost history of the Tsarist empire’s non-Russian Marxists, my study addresses the following puzzle: Why did revolutionary processes and outcomes diverge so dramatically across time (between 1905 and 1917) and space (between the different regions of imperial Russia)?

By |2021-07-14T09:58:28-04:00Jul 14, 2021|
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Theorizing “OK Boomer!” Class War or Generation War?

"OK Boomer" emerged as a symptom of late-capitalist postmodernity among a generation who, for structural reasons, may not ever realize the even modestly comfortable lifestyles of many of their (grand)parents. Rather than confront this structural issue, many engage in “fetishistic disavowal.”

By |2021-07-07T11:34:37-04:00Jul 7, 2021|
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