Shifting Terrain

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 ...

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, ...

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....

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 ...

Building power to win for the working class isn’t simply a theory. People have been doing it for years. JaNaé Bates, Co-Executive Director of ISAIAH and Faith In Minnesota, explains the strategy for improving the lives of working people that put Minnesota on the political map. We talk about the work behind a miracle; how risk and failure are necessary for success; flanking imperfect politicians with power not money; and how the Minnesota Miracle is available for working people...

If you had to guess how many politicians are working class, what would you say? Ten percent? Five? In this episode we talk to Eric Hansen, a researcher who ran the data to determine how many working class politicians represent the working class majority. Along with the on-the-ground experience of Angelina Cruz and William Walter, two working class candidates who ran for state assembly in Wisconsin - a swing state with a reputation for having some of the most gerrymandered voting maps ...

Damaging stereotypes about rural and urban voters abound in politics. What’s really going on in the charged landscape known as the rural-urban divide? Are rural voters actually voting against their interests when they elect a Republican? And are urban voters so immersed in the culture war they’re out of touch with the everyday concerns of working people? Is there any commonality across this geographical chasm? In today’s episode, Sarah Jaynes of the Rural Democracy Initiative, and Bonnie Do...

In Shifting Terrain, we explore race and class in politics, beyond the simplistic stereotypes in the news, and between election cycles. Voters, political strategists, organizers, and politicians will speak to the ways race and class are playing out in voting patterns, campaigns, the news, and election outcomes. And, ultimately, how we navigate America’s multiracial, cross-class democracy. We highlight voices across the country to interrupt misconceptions fueling political pola...