Shifting Terrain

17 Episodes

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AI is About to Make The Working Class a Lot Bigger

2025-12-2344:14

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 ...

Who Is The Working Class, Actually?

2025-12-1837:59

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, ...

Laughing When You Want to Cry: Comedy for Class Struggle

2025-12-0938:35

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 ...

Working Class Voters One Year Later: Was It Economic Policy Or the Culture War?

2025-12-0235:38

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 politic...

Future Hindsight | How Underdogs Build Power: Stephanie Luce

2025-11-2539:23

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, ...

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