The Professional Managerial Class

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In this episode of the 1Dime Radio podcast, we discuss the influence that the so-called "Professional Managerial Class" (PMC) exerts on the political scene, class structures, and the ideology of the right and the contemporary "left." Discussion revolves around PMC's intersection with identity politics, its role in the dissolution of the Democrats' working-class base, and its permeation in academia. In this episode, we dive into the Origins of the PMC and the history of the theory surrounding it. This includes the work of Barbara Ehrenreich, James Burnham, Tomas Frank, Catherine Liu, among others I also express some of my criticisms of PMC discourse and the problem of "class identity politics."

There are numerous people who have written about the PMC. Adolph Reed, Catherine Liu, David Graeber, and many more. For this episode, I decided to bring on David McKerracher and Elton L.K. =, who have a short course on  @theory_underground  that is dedicated to understanding the PMC and the history of the theory behind it. You can find this course for free on YouTube and it covers a lot of the key ideas from the most important books written about the subject of the PMC: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlcbaQ1cp2TLyjRKSnWmx1glc3vC3SsRh&si=_OYcUrMwXh_RB9pk

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Elton L.K. is the founder and organizer of Dead Parrots Philosophical Society, a local public philosophy group that meets monthly in Boise. He runs two podcasts that relate more to his political work at the DSA: Working Class Intelligentsia, a podcast about Gramsci, and another called CLASS, which is an official education arm of the national education committee of the DSA.

David McKerracher (Dave), founder of ⁠⁠Theory Underground⁠⁠, an educational platform for learning theory, and publishing house for organic intellectuals or aspiring theorists who pursue theory and philosophy outside of academia, or people with academic backgrounds who don't want to be restricted by academic fetters, i.e. renegade academics.

Dave and Elton are both contributors to the book Underground Theory, which features some big names like Slavoj Zizek, Alenka Zupancic, and some smaller names like Dave, Elton and myself: https://www.amazon.com/Underground-Theory-David-McKerracher/dp/B0CH2CXSGN

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