iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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

Out of hibernation to share a polemic I published today at Salvage titled “On Theoretical Degeneration.” It takes aim at the unusual suspects currently reconstructing right theory (Yarvin, Land, etc.) and some on the left and center as well. You can find the article online below.

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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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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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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 · 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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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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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

For those that need extra content, the article argues makes the (sloppy and stupid) case that it is justified to fire professors for the because of the political implications and content of their work.

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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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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 · 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 · 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 · 12/12/2025

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

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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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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Congratulations to Dr. James Sirigotis, who defended his dissertation Resilient Optionality: (Infra)structures of Climate, Feeling, and Finance at UC Santa Cruz. Sirigotis offers a comprehensive account of how capitalism now mirrors the logic of financial options, a truly brilliant work.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Revisiting this excellent review of the new literature on old financial markets. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a longer view.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

It is thrilling to see these democratic processes increasingly put in place. I argue for something very similar in my recent book.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Thoughts on governance and compromise

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Thinking Alan Dershowitz is mainstream is beyond self parody.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Nobody on the right goes: "OK, but is he really a communist? Here is a historical comparison suggesting otherwise."

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

A good reason why it is a bad idea to treat educational attainment as a proxy for economic class, even if it does generate important cultural distinctions and divisions.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Even better, what if we have 100 year mortgages where our future progeny pay back the bank in labor hours.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Same Saturday night Max Weber. We definitely live in an age of high political vanity. As Weber suggests, what comes of it is violence.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Democratizing finance by turning everyone into a venture capitalist.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Authors find increase in cultural protest (left: war, enviro, + right: anti-immigrant, anti-EU, and both: Covid pro and anti-containment measures) across Europe and diminishing economic protests, which are typically led by unions. Where is European labor these days?

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Let's see what happens after he makes a bunch of parents miss their kid's soccer game this weekend.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

I'll be teaching this whole debate in my grad seminar on class analysis next quarter. Genuinely excited to dig into this!

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

“Unbridled desire to work”…they really want your soul don’t they? Your labor, it seems, is not enough.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Here is @christophsorg.bsky.social giving a brilliant talk on economic planning.

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

From @cominsitu.bsky.social's "Class as Moral Injury"

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Capitalism can’t help but undermine its own conditions for existence. Source: New York Times

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Today is the deadline to submit to the Reconstructing Critical Social Theory workshop, which will be held April 23-24 in Santa Cruz, California. Get those abstracts in!

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Mike McCarthy @itsmccarthy.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Imagine a similar story where democratic investment banks are instead reporting on the quarterly results of their social investment programs. It’s not sci fi. China’s massive investments into steel mills and infrastructure come directly from state banks not private capital. Now add democracy.

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