Punching Out

What do HR departments really think about you? Alfred, Louise, and Noah go straight to the source to find out how employees are always assumed to be trying to get away with something.

Ryan, Noah, and Chris take a look at labor issues in the world of sports, from MMA to the NCAA, with an eye towards why these struggles matter for broader society.

Alfred, Abby, and Babak continue their series on work in popular culture with a focus on movies and how they portray everything from bad bosses to the American Dream.

Karen and Alfred examine the value of work in late capitalism, and speculate about a post-work future.

Lyle and Earl talk with Maria, host of Foreign Exchange on WAYO, about her experience as a freelance translator, and the broader issues facing freelancers as a whole.

Chris, Ariel, and Emily discuss working in local media, and the impact that working conditions have on the quality of journalism we receive.

On the first episode of 2018, Cadejo, Ryan, and Karen look back at the past year for both workers and our show, before looking ahead to what the new year might have in store.

Cadejo, Ryan, and Rich give an overview of key moments in American labor history, and talk about why the past still matters today.

For those interested in learning more, they also recommended some books:

From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend

American Workers, American Unions

Making the New Deal

Collision Course

Subterranean Fire

Ryan, Rich, and Amanda dig into the mythic image of entrepreneurs in American society, and the troubling outcomes of that narrative for Uber drivers and LuLaRoe sellers alike.

Articles referenced:

https://thebaffler.com/salvos/dreams-incorporated

https://qz.com/1039331/mlms-like-avon-and-lularoe-are-sending-people-into-debt-and-psychological-crisis/

Abby, Babak and Alfred discuss how portrayals of work and workers in literature were consumed by a popular audience, and how those fictional images of work still reverberate within our political and cultural landscape today. They talk about bad bosses, labyrinths of bureaucracy, silencing of dissent, violently suppressed workers, and the toxic influence of certain books on the impressionable and simplistic minds of policy makers today.