My latest for Symbolic Capital(ism) describes my evolving views on inequality and socialism.
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I'm a sociologist. The study of inequality is now central to our discipline, crowding out other topics that historically defined the field. Socioeconomic understandings of inequality have been eclipsed by work studying disparities along the lines of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc: musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/on-inequalit…
Inequality-focused sociological research often defines itself in terms of social justice advocacy. In reality, contemporary sociologists produce very little work focused on helping real-world stakeholders deal with practical problems here-and-now: musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/on-inequalit…
My first book, We Have Never Been Woke, has been a runaway success. Yet, for all the big swings it takes, it owes its uptake in no small part to its adherence to disciplinary norms -- to include a tight focus on inequalities: musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/on-inequalit…
Inequality can certainly be problematic when it exceeds certain thresholds or interacts with adverse social trends and dynamics. However, some measure of inequality is likely inevitable in growing, diverse, complex and/or large-scale societies, as socialist scholars have long recognized: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/de…
Ordinary people aren't particularly concerned with inequality under most circumstances:
Inequality is often a symptom of problems they actually *do* care about (stagnation, poverty, precarity, exploitation) -- but most are not troubled by the reality that all people are not the same for any dimension under analysis.musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/wo…
Symbolic capitalists' lives and livelihoods revolve around status. *We* tend to be super focused on slight differences -- often in ways that interfere with our happiness or ability to relate to normal people: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/wo…
Unlike wealth, status is closer to zero sum. And when people are (or perceive themselves to be) in a zero sum struggle, they often adopt an approach to politics that is more focused on holding others back or making them suffer instead of pursuing that they actually think is good: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/wo…
There is a correlational relationship between zero sum thinking, policy preferences and political ideologies.
There are traditions of socialist politics that are less focused on conflict and division, instead prioritizing broad based prosperity and opportunity and a shared and positive vision for the future:
One of the most prominent is the "liberal socialist" tradition.musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/po…
Liberal socialism has a long list of accomplishments in the U.S. and a proud track record worldwide. Many fail to recognize how dramatic and positive its impact has been because these contributions have become foundational to the contemporary liberal order: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/po…
Of course, liberal socialism is not the only variety of socialism that exists in the world. There are also strains that are more zero-sum in orientation and authoritarian in practice: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/au…
The problem is not that "real socialism has never been tried," or that authoritarians are not "real" socialists. The issue is that there are two broad traditions of socialism, they've both been tried *a lot* and they have very different track records. This is a reality that many across the ideological spectrum try to occlude: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/ke…
My own political and moral views are shaped by pragmatism, Islam, and an obsession with knowledge (as an epistemologist and STS scholar). These currents orient me, broadly, towards the liberal socialist tradition:
If I had to put myself in a box, that's the box I would put myself in.musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/ca…
For those who want to learn more about liberal socialism, I'd highly recommend two titles by @MattPolProf.
The first is a scholarly exploration of the tradition's origins and development. The second is a more accessible, affordable and concise book for the public on its most essential components and their practical upshot. Links here: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/co…
And for folks interested in the broad themes explored in this series, I'd recommend a forthcoming book by @tmbejan with @Harvard_Press, First Among Equals.
That book will explore how a longstanding and widely held belief that all people are fundamentally equal (even if they differ in many respects) came to eventually be attached to a set of political demands (around representation) and, later, economic demands (around redistribution).
More here: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/202717521/co…
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