Shifting Terrain

You’ve probably heard that AI is coming for your job. That it will replace you. And probably ruin a lot of our lives. 

Or, that it’s going to make life, and especially work, easier. Ushering in a new age of productivity, efficiency, and therefore, leisure. 

What’s going on beyond the hype cycle?

Ava, a worker training AI, shares details from inside an industry shrouded in secrecy - including a very unusual interview process, what happens when you have bots for coworkers, and how to manage the rollercoaster of precarious employment.

Josh Dzieza, feature writer at The Verge, reveals the patterns we can’t see, based on years of reporting on tech, science, business, and their human impacts. And more specifically, about the hidden labor behind artificial intelligence and what this signals about the future of work.

But what is AI’s real threat given all the projected promises and perils of technology that have resurfaced again and again? Aaron Benanav, assistant professor at Cornell University and author of “Automation and the Future of Work”, has an answer that might surprise you. 

Though maybe not as much as what renowned economist Richard Wolff has to say. He’s got a clear vision of how AI could be the long-awaited turning point for the working class.

Josh Dzieza: Website

Aaron Benanav: Website

Richard D. Wolff: Website

Follow Shifting Terrain on Instagram

Drop us a line: [email protected]

How do you define the working class? Is it based on education, income, job, or taste? Is there even a definitive answer?

Several guests are on the show to help figure it out. Starting with Rachel Sherman, a professor of Sociology at The New School in New York City, who lays out the many possible ways to define class. 

We also hear from Joan Williams, Founding Director of the Equality Action Center at UC Law San Francisco and a prominent public intellectual. Joan returns to talk numbers, a particularly important detail for a certain group looking toward one end of the income distribution.

Marbella Eboni Hill, Assistant Professor of Sociology at North Carolina State University, speaks about the intersection of race and class; and how understanding their relationship makes the murky waters of the class conversation much more clear.  

We also hear from Río, Olive, and Colin. Between their jobs cooking, bartending, and personal training, they talk with a lot of people. And, arguably, have the most expert things to say about class in the United States today. Not surprisingly, they’ve got some clear ideas that reflect the reality of being a working class person in these increasingly unaffordable times. 

Rachel Sherman: Website

Joan C. Williams: Website

Marbella Eboni Hill: Website

Colin Davis: Instagram

Follow Shifting Terrain on Instagram

Drop us a line: [email protected]

This season focuses on what’s capturing and dividing the working class. But if we’re interested in more unity, what’s a good way to bring everyone together? How about a joke?

Rachel invited Gavin Matts onto this episode after seeing his standup set where he joked about debt, unemployment, and other class issues from a real-world perspective that are rarely seen on stage. She also speaks with Kenice Mobley, another NYC-based stand up, who talks about the realities of having a career in comedy without the financial or personal connections that are often needed to get ahead.

And Caty Borum, the executive director of the Center for Media and Social Impact and co-founder of the Yes And Laughter Lab, offers a big-picture view of the class contours of comedy - both for comics and the industry. She explains how comedy effectively meets universal human needs, and how class could be the next big topic in the entertainment industry.

Kenice Mobley: Instagram 

Caty Borum: Yes And Laughter Lab (Y’ALL) Center for Media and Social Impact

Gavin Matts: Instagram

Shifting Terrain: Instagram

[email protected]

Shifting Terrain had its finger on the pulse of working class voters in 2024, but a lot of people were shocked by the outcome of the presidential election. A lot of analysis has gone into what exactly moved millions of voters to the right. Was it proposed economic policies or emphasis on the culture wars?

Instead of clear answers, even more questions emerged: Will the Democrats forever have a toxic brand? Can the Republicans keep up their glaring contradictions? Is there a trustworthy politician who actually cares about working class people?

Our guests have a definitive take on what went down. And what this means for the future of politics.

Jared Abbott, Director of the Center for Working-Class Politics, has extensive data about working class voters in the Rust Belt, with both insight into the motivation behind their votes and clear directives for future candidates. Professor René Rojas’ co-authored paper “The Latino Rebuke” challenges the typical story about Latino working class voters' surprising right-ward trajectory, and why this move is distinct from their white neighbors. And we’ll also hear from Drew, a union electrician from Ohio, whose co-workers have gotten quiet since Trump was elected. 

Jared Abbott: Center for Working-Class Politics

René Rojas: The Latino Rebuke

We discuss Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World—a guide for a new generation of activists seeking not just to understand power, but to build it.

Stephanie's civic action toolkit recommendations are:

1) Learn a new skill, like non cooperation or mutual aid

2) Find organizations that align with your values and check if they offer trainings

Stephanie Luce is Professor of Labor Studies at the School of Labor and Urban Studies and Professor of Sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She's also the co-author of Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World.

Let's connect! Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/

Discover new ways to #BetheSpark:

https://www.futurehindsight.com/spark

Follow Mila on X:

https://x.com/milaatmos

Follow Stephanie on X:

https://x.com/stephanie_luce_

Sponsor:

Thank you to Shopify! Sign up for a $1/month trial at shopify.com/hopeful.

Early episodes for Patreon supporters:

https://patreon.com/futurehindsight

Credits:

Host: Mila Atmos

Guests: Stephanie Luce

Executive Producer: Mila Atmos

Producer: Zack Travis

Think the recent wave of Starbucks and Amazon unionizing signals a tidal shift in worker power? A new wave of labor movement activity to take down corporations?

Our guests have some news for you. 

While unions have long been considered the best way to build worker power, what’s really happening on the ground right now as the workforce increasingly moves towards a gig economy? And what does this mean for your future? Yes, you.

Whether you’re an office worker on a salary, or a delivery driver on an app, we’re in a new era of labor organizing. 

Hear from Italo Medelius, an “Amazonian” and union organizer at an Amazon warehouse in North Carolina; Brian Dolber, researcher and organizer, who reveals the ways you can organize people who have the same job, but not the same workspace; and Ligia Guallpa, director of the Workers Justice Project in Brooklyn, who shares more than we know about the costs of convenience behind an app like Grub Hub.

You’ll also hear about a controversial, but bold idea, from Les Leopold, that might just be the thing that actually turns the tide for workers.

Italo Medelius: Amazon CAUSE

Brian Dolber: Rideshare Drivers United and co-editor of The Gig Economy: Workers and Media in the Age of Convergence

Ligia Guallpa: The Workers Justice Project

Les Leopold: The Labor Institute and author of the popular substack (and book by the same title) Wall Street’s War on Workers

Have questions about the gig economy? Check out the Gig Economy Data Hub, a project of the Workers Lab in collaboration with the SNF Agora Institute at John Hopkins University.

What is happening with immigration policy and enforcement? Are we witnessing an unprecedented level of surveillance and violence? Or does social media just make people more aware of what’s always been happening? 

Sociologist Shannon Gleeson helps us untangle the knot of immigration policy and modern day tactics to reveal the bipartisan roots of strategies designed to snarl legal migration; what $40,000 gets if you’re navigating possible deportation; and the unlikely allies in this fight. 

Jorge Torres, national organizing director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), shares on-the-ground experiences confronting day laborers, along with the interventions you don’t always see in viral clips online. And Maria describes just how much the quintessential immigrant story of her childhood has changed in America. 

Shannon Gleeson: Legalized Inequalities: Immigration and Race in the Low-Wage Workplace

Jorge Torres: National Day Laborer Organizing Network

Executive Producers: Rachel Rybaczuk and Amanda Cowper

Audio Mixing: Tina Tobey Mack

There is a noticeable discussion of Christian Nationalism in popular culture. Is its growing influence actually undermining democracy? 

In this episode, Samuel Perry reveals the surprising relationship between capitalism and Christianity; Jack Delehanty identifies how the church gives working people more than just a sermon on Sundays; and a former Evangelical speaks about the impact of political preaching. You’ll also hear from Jeanné Lewis, a Christian faith leader working to counter the influence of Christian Nationalism, who speaks candidly about how her faith is in direct opposition with much of the rhetoric swirling around the Church today.

Samuel Perry: The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy; Religion for Realists: Why We All Need the Scientific Study of Religion

Jack Delehanty: Making Moral Citizens: How Faith-Based Organizers Use Vocation for Public Action

Jeanné Lewis: Faith in Public Life

Executive Producers: Rachel Rybaczuk and Amanda Cowper

Audio Mixing: Tina Tobey Mack

Music: BlueDot Sessions and Epidemic Sound

What happens when you combine the political opinions of a weightlifting social media star with the analysis of a professor who researches Fox News and political Youtube? A conversation that reveals some uncomfortable truths about the media. Colin Davis and Reece Peck discuss why liberal messaging continues to fail, where to find the Joe Rogan of the left, and how to actually reach working class men. Plus we’ll hear from author Joan Williams about how class cluelessness led to the downfall of the left’s power. 

Colin Davis: Instagram

Reece Peck: Website

Joan C. Williams: Website

Shifting Terrain Executive Producers: Amanda Cowper and Rachel Rybaczuk

Audio Mixing: Tina Tobey Mack

Music: BlueDot Sessions and Epidemic Sound