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Danny Colligan

@dannycolligan.bsky.social
133 followers 91 following 22 posts

Researching German economic development, Prussian peasants and related topics at the CUNY Graduate Center 🌹🍉

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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The US is suffused with multimillionaire business owners who are not nearly as well-known as their billionaire compatriots. My latest for Jacobin is a review of Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick's book The Everywhere Millionaire, which attempts to quantify their wealth and power jacobin.com/2026/10/revi...
jacobin.com
American Capitalism Isn’t Just Billionaires
Middling capitalists such as auto dealers, beer distributors, and niche manufacturers control a substantial amount of American wealth, which they often use to advance right-wing political priorities. ...
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Sven Beckert's recent book on Capitalism represents a synthesis of the "New History of Capitalism"'s work on the subject. For Endnotes, I argue its neo-Braudelian account of capitalism's history compares unfavorably to "political Marxist" explanations www.endnotes.org.uk/palabre/mapp...
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
My latest for Jacobin is a review of Trevor Jackson's new book on the history of capitalism, The Insatiable Machine. Unlike other recent offerings on the subject, it manages to get crucial things about the nature and development of capitalism correct. jacobin.com/2026/05/revi...
jacobin.com
We Need to Understand What Makes Capitalism Special
Capitalism is a distinctive mode of economic organization, one that emerged relatively recently in human history. What distinguishes it, a new history argues, is not a reliance on coercion or colonial...
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
My latest for Jacobin: I discuss the ethical and technical problems with various companies offering "liberal eugenics" via polygenic embryo screening. It turns out the technology is presently incapable of delivering what these companies are advertising. jacobin.com/2026/01/sili...
jacobin.com
Silicon Valley’s Latest Dubious Offering: Designer Babies
Tech capitalists are now marketing the ability to customize your baby’s inherited traits. The process is currently unable to deliver on its promises — but it raises serious concerns about the prospect...
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
That view isn't voiced in either of these pieces. It's clearly possible to entertain concerns about declining population numbers and/or population aging (both of which are happening right now in various countries) without advocating that it should be prioritized above all other political issues.
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Reposted by Danny Colligan
Jacobin @jacobinmag.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Population decline is not just about human extinction. Before it ends, human civilization will grow increasingly unpleasant — and communal ideals associated with left-wing politics will become increasingly difficult to sustain.
jacobin.com
Why the Left Should Care About Population Decline
Population decline is not just about human extinction. Before it ends, human civilization will grow increasingly unpleasant — and communal ideals associated with left-wing politics will become increasingly difficult to sustain.
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
This new article in Sociology Lens (the former Journal of Historical Sociology) contains a summary of the main argument of my dissertation. It addresses how the German economy transitioned to capitalism, and emphasizes the contribution of agriculture. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
The Origins of the Prussian Agricultural Revolution, 1750–1840
The emergence of Prussia's mid-19th century “agricultural revolution” has been attributed to, variously, the actions of state reformers, the origin of the manorial system centuries prior, or the quot...
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Oh, sure, and there's less flattering potential explanations for it too. Maybe some factional politics in longtermist/EA circles or something.
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
I could think of a number of reasons for that. Maybe some kind of deal with the publisher of the volume it's supposed to be included in. Or perhaps they're trying to move away from longtermist rhetoric (it's basically absent in the book) and pitch their ideas in wonky instead of futuristic terms
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Thank you. I may actually be a bit more tolerant of long-range projections. Obviously a lot of things may happen between now and then (whenever then is) to invalidate their projection, but I don't think it's necessarily an illegitimate exercise.
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Tagging those who might be interested in such things: @philipncohen.com @karenguzzo.bsky.social @amandajean.bsky.social @danahull.bsky.social @lesja.bsky.social
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
In my review of Spears and Geruso's book "After the Spike" for Jacobin, I attempt to confront what I consider the core of their argument, which is why declining global population would be undesirable, and I find their arguments unpersuasive. jacobin.com/2025/07/demo...
jacobin.com
Why Should We Worry About Declining Birth Rates?
Declining birth rates around the world may pose new challenges for humanity. A new book on the topic by Elon Musk–funded economists indulges in questionable philosophy and sci-fi speculation that fail...
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Their demographic projections are probably the least weird part of the book. I have a critical review which should be appearing soon.
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Were eighteenth century Prussian peasants oppressed by their noble landlords? My article in Central European History argues, against the past half century of scholarship, that they were due to a biased judicial system, frequent beatings, and much else: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Villagers as Victims: Different Views of Peasant Oppression in Eighteenth-Century Prussia | Central European History | Cambridge Core
Villagers as Victims: Different Views of Peasant Oppression in Eighteenth-Century Prussia
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
My latest article in Jacobin addresses the phenomenon of the "pronatalist" mileau. The pronatalists face a choice: they either can pursue their stated objectives by adopting a political program of welfare state expansion, or remain a self-defeating movement. jacobin.com/2025/04/nata...
jacobin.com
“Natalcon” and the Contradictions of the Pronatalist Right
Last month’s gathering of pronatalists in Austin, Texas, revealed a right-wing milieu riven by internal contradictions — and without a plausible plan to significantly increase birth rates.
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
The criticisms of Engels' writing on the Peasants' War usually (see: Roper's book) have more to do with objections to class analysis tout court or the factors that Engels emphasizes as a result of that perspective. It's a solid historical essay.
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
My review of Lyndal Roper's new book on the German Peasants' War (on its 500 year anniversary), Summer of Fire and Blood jacobin.com/2025/03/germ...
jacobin.com
The Momentous Class Struggle of the German Peasants’ War
This year marks the 500th anniversary of the German Peasants’ War, the largest European uprising before the French Revolution, in which peasants seized upon the radical implications of Martin Luther’s...
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
My latest for Jacobin: the New York Times and McKinsey say that aging populations will inevitably lead to lower living standards for ordinary people. But it's an attempt to scare people into accepting attacks on their own economic interests. jacobin.com/2025/02/mcki...
jacobin.com
Aging Populations Don’t Need to Mean Lower Living Standards
The bright minds at McKinsey & Co. are arguing that declining birth rates mean that people need to work more hours for more years and maybe give up retirement altogether. No thanks.
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
My latest for Jacobin: Elon Musk and other capitalists often bemoan falling American birth rates. Do we have good reasons for sharing their concerns? Find out below. jacobin.com/2025/01/fall...
jacobin.com
How to Think About Falling Birth Rates
The relevance of declining birth rates to left-wing concerns, like welfare-state sustainability, is more complex than generally acknowledged. The real reason for the Left to support pro-family policie...
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Reposted by Danny Colligan
The Nation Magazine @thenation.com · 19/12/2024
One could also say Mangione took the logic of self-help to its most extreme conclusion, eschewing systemic change in favor of a DIY murder complete with a 3D-printed gun.
thenation.com
A Close Reading of Luigi Mangione’s Self-Help Library
A look at the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter’s social media accounts points to what Americans are inclined to turn to when their government fails to give them sufficient options.
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Please add me; Central Brooklyn DSA
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Hello, new followers. Please enjoy my recent writing on European peasants, etc.: jacobin.com/2024/10/euro...
jacobin.com
The Lost World of the European Peasant
A new book, Remembering Peasants, takes a close look at Europe’s vanished peasantry. Mixing history, personal memoir, and anthropology, it is a vivid reminder of an experience that has only recently d...
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
If you don't want to wait until February, there's the Blickle book from decades ago in English (and other edited collections: Scribner/Benecke, Bak, Scott...)
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Danny Colligan @dannycolligan.bsky.social · 02/08/2023
Hello everyone
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