iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Deactivating my account here next week to carve out more headspace to write for a bit. You can still find me at substk (theorydecay) and in sta (prof_mike_mccarthy) where I'll post words and pics, respectively. Cheers!

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Perhaps weirdly, the technologists have been thinking about this — since the models are trained on as much Marx as anything else and a case can be made (admittedly by Marxists) that the case is more rational.

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Hammer and Hope @hammerandhope.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Republicans have gathered for an unusual two-day midterm convention in Dallas, but Trump may find that his ability to mobilize his base is waning. In Issue No. 11, @itsmccarthy.bsky.social examines what lessons right-wing political spectacles offer the left. hammerandhope.org/article/trum...

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Some new writing of mine in the world for the first time! Check out the latest Salvage.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Very cool to see the concept "class dynamism" being used by David Markus to interpret the photography of LaToya Ruby Frazier at the Smithsonian's journal, American Art. This is a very thoughtful critique of Walter Benn Michaels' interpretation of her work.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

How should democratic socialists govern? Re-upping my new essay at Hammer + Hope on the dual strategy of mobilization and incorporation.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

What should the left do when it governs? My new one from @hammerandhope.bsky.social

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The Syllabus @the-syllabus.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

By shifting control of collective wealth into the hands of unaccountable financial institutions, asset manager capitalism has eroded democratic structures. Our video of the week calls for democratizing finance to strengthen working-class power. Featuring @itsmccarthy.bsky.social buff.ly/3lvf3Zv

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Military Keynesianism, but domestic

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

What a week. My book with @versobooks.bsky.social was a winner of The Theory Prize, which is awarded by the American Sociological Association's Theory Section every two years. Congratulations to the others recognized. Very pleased to win it alongside Zophia Edwards, whose book is a must read.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

I’m honored to share that my book, The Master’s Tools on @versobooks.bsky.social, is a winner of the 2026 Outstanding Contribution to Political Sociology Book Award from the American Sociological Association.

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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Seattle, Santa Cruz and Irvine: the book tour for EXTRACTION is coming your way. 5/19 UW-Seattle talk and Elliott Bay books in convo w @mmcntsh.bsky.social 5/20 World Affairs Council- Seattle 5/21 University of California Santa Cruz w/ @itsmccarthy.bsky.social 5/27 @ucisocialecology.bsky.social

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Spoiler alert: the billionaire is most worried about union wages

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Put an English translation on Substack. open.substack.com/pub/theoryde...

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

It's salvageable, but we shouldn't salvage it. A forum on the future of "liberal democracy." Thoughts from Wendy Brown, Carolin Amlinger, Axel Honneth, Veronica Gago, Isabell Lorey, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Naika Foroutan, Christoph Menke, Rahel Jaeggi, and me.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Today, I’m in a forum at the German newspaper Taz on the question, “is liberal democracy worth saving?” My answer is nein: Societies that allow ownership and control to concentrate never produce freedom and democracy.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Need to hold their feet to labor’s fire

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

I had a great conversation with Daniel Tutt about ideology, power + domination, and class politics for his Emancipations podcast. We get into the really rich theoretical work of Göran Therborn and provide a bit of an introduction to his approach.

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

*salutes beaver comrades*

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

For anyone that reads German, I had a great conversation with Maxine Fowé for @surplusmagazin.de about the politics of contemporary finance capital. The link to the conversation is now live.

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Rick Harp @rickharp.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

“Capitalist democracies are beset by elite-driven, popular divisions that result in a hyper-sensationalized political culture.” @itsmccarthy.bsky.social My current read! 📕 Reminded yet again how so much of what passes for polijournalism stokes this sensationalism.

cover of book, "The Master's
Tools: How Finance Wrecked Democracy (and a Radical Plan to
Rebuild It)," by Michael A. McCarthy. Published by Verso Books.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

I will be at UC Berkeley later this moth to give a public talk: "Financial democracy or democratic finance?"

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Shocking to see an editorial board with a political axe to grind completely destroy the scientific credibility of a journal in the name of...science! Theory & Society further sinks itself into the bog of bitter sociology in this latest one, an argument for the need to end academic freedom.

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Budget Motel Abyss @budgetmotelabyss.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

excited to be chairing this upcoming free event on critical theory and psychoanlysis: www.eventbrite.com/e/melanie-kl...

eventbrite.com

Melanie Klein and Critical Theory

Eventbrite - Melanie Klein and Critical Theory - Sunday, January 18, 2026 - Find event and ticket information.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

I think we need to come to terms with the fact that many people have been so deeply interpellated by Trumpism that they genuinely want blood. It’s not masking some other hidden motivation, that is the motivation.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

I started a substack and am calling it, Theory Decay. This is my first (and possibly last) post. Link below:

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

This piece at @lrb.co.uk by Amia Srinivasan is excellent. It speaks directly to the ways that the unconscious -- related to identity, desire, and fantasy -- relate to politics and therefore organizing. Organizers intuitively know these things, rational actor models less so.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Interesting article on the sociological approach to freedom at @sociologicaltheory.bsky.social

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

I began to wonder if the whole "black people took all our jobs" anti-woke moment had finally passed, as it doesn't characterize any data I have seen or the conversations I hear people having irl. But I decided to go back to twitter, and I see it is very much so still alive with the media class.

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Hammer and Hope @hammerandhope.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

In this special issue, Hammer & Hope commissioned the photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson to show us the Trump administration's arrest and deportation campaign. hammerandhope.org/article/ice-...

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

This is a really wonderful paper by Muriam Haleh Davis, laying out the key debates of the Algerian left that Fanon's work was central too. We could use more lively debates like this today, especially in the US.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Perception versus reality...social science differentiates between the two.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

I feel bad for folks that went to grad school thinking they were learning truths to defend for the rest of their intellectual lives…because that is truly boring.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Teaching a grad seminar on class, race, and ideology at UC Santa Cruz this winter. It is the first in a series on "articulations," with another on class, the state, and gender bouncing around in the back of my head unrealized. Any thoughts welcome, it's not finalized just yet...

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

The American left desperately needs an open-access social theory journal where big ideas about capitalism, politics, history, and social change can be developed and debated. We have wonderful magazines, but but very little for deeper form public-facing theoretical work...

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Trump is doing what Allende never could, arming his base.

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Larry Patriquin @larrypatriquin.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Took advantage of @versobooks.bsky.social's end of year sale (50% off when you order 5+ books!). Bought books by G. Eley, A. Hanieh, A. Malm, @itsmccarthy.bsky.social, J. W. Moore, M. Neocleous, D. Sassoon, @leninology.bsky.social & @alfatau.bsky.social. 🎅 🤶 🎄 ☃️

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

The ancient Greeks had a machine for democracy, the kleroterion, today democracies are dominated by the tech of financial markets. My conversation about capitalism, class analysis, and democratic theory - first published in the Swedish magazine Röda Rummet, now in English at @versobooks.bsky.social

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