Asklemmy

43751 readers

1170 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

What are some books I can read about socialism/the state vs corporations/the economic and sociological side of government (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I don't really know much about socialism, but I want to learn more. I also don't really know what kind of book I'm looking for, but I'm not really looking to read Marx at this point and I also don't want to read a pop economy book like Freakonomics. I want something a little more legit, or academic, I guess. I'm cool with classics, too, if there is a story out there that explores these themes.

Sorry if that's not much to go by, I'm having trouble articulating what it is I want to read

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Whenever I introduce people to the concepts of Marxism, fascism, capitalism, etc., I start by recommending two books:

Wages of Rebellion by Chris Hedges

and

Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti

Both are written in very accessible language and both do a great job at not just explaining these economic/political theories, but also adding historical context to ground the theories in real-world actions.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

I'm listening to wages of rebellion right now. It's so infuriating being reminded of the shit we live in the US.

It's good, and I'll definitely finish it, but so far hasn't scratched my itch. I guess I feel like most of the atrocities perpetuated by the corporate state are already apparent to the public, but accepted. The idea of freedom of privacy, freedom of speech, they're just illusions. People just accept that radical political speakers, even if they are non-violent, are locked up. They just accept that the corporations and state lull them into placidity with consumerism and entertainment. It feels good and is convenient.

I mean, me too. I really like the convenience of being able to turn on and dim my houselights with my voice. I really like being able to keep in contact with my friends and family using my smartphone. But these things are at the cost of my privacy. An everyday individual does not have a choice to opt out of being tracked short of using a dumb phone and never using the Internet, which simply is not realistic, and still does not ensure complete privacy, as I understand it. It's insanity.

I'm gonna continue on, maybe with Blackshirts or Why Socialim? by Einstein, but I'm also interested in reading some Chomsky (maybe not necessarily about Socialism? but seems like an interesting dude)

Thanks for the recommendation!