Neil Roberts is Professor of Africana Studies and Faculty Affiliate in Political Science and Religion at Williams College. He’s working on a new book titled How To Live Free in an Age of Pessimism. We discuss the legacy of Charles Mills’ scholarship on the racial contract, freedom, and transforming society from the bottom up.
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We’re revisiting our conversation with Colin Jerolmack, an environmental sociologist and author of Up to Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town. We discuss the public-private paradox and the tragedy of the commons, as well as the undemocratic aspects of American property rights.
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Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. His latest book is Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter, co-authored with Chris Benner. We bookend our 16th season with a discussion on how solidarity economics and mutuality fulfill the promise of the social contract.
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Reverend Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson is the President of Auburn Seminary, a leadership development and research institute that equips bold and resilient leaders of faith and moral courage to build communities, bridge divides, pursue justice, and heal the world. We discuss the role of faith in the social contract and in creating the beloved community.
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Latanya Sweeney is the Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology at the Harvard Kennedy school. Her mission is to create and use technology to assess and solve societal political and governance problems, and to teach others how to do the same. We discuss technology design as a policy maker, data privacy, and Section 230.
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Sarah Christopherson is the Legislative and Policy Director at Americans for Tax Fairness. We take a deep dive into taxes—the spark that brings the social contract to life through things like public schools, highways, and social security—and examine the fairness of the current tax code, the estate tax, and successful tax policy.
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Eduardo Porter is a journalist at The New York Times and the author of American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise. We discuss the intersection of public policy and racism as well as the long-term negative outcomes of exclusionary policies in our society, regardless of race.
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Saru Jayaraman is the President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. Her new book is One Fair Wage: Ending Sub Minimum Pay in America. We discuss the history of the subminimum wage in America, the inherent unfairness of the practice, and the need to end it once and for all.
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Lee McIntyre is a philosopher of science and the author of How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason. We discuss the danger of science denialism, constructive dialogue techniques, and our civic responsibility to defend the truth.
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Michele Goodwin is a Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Irvine and founding director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy. We discuss how America’s current social contract in public health affects COVID response, health outcomes in minority populations, and reproductive rights.
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