Blame Theory

Geoff Shullenberger
  • 5.0 (7)
  • POLITICS
Blame Theory

Anchored by Geoff Shullenberger and Ashley Frawley, Blame Theory takes a seriously playful look at the ideas that have shaped our minds and our world, to ask: How have we ended up here, and whom or what can we blame? compactmag.substack.com

  1. The Crisis of Liberalism (Part 4): The End of Woke?

    JUN 2

    The Crisis of Liberalism (Part 4): The End of Woke?

    Geoff Shullenberger and Ashley Frawley discuss Andrew Doyle’s new book The End of Woke, which Ashley reviewed in Compact. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 15m
  2. The Crisis of Liberalism (Part 3): The Trans-ing of the Political Subject

    MAY 15

    The Crisis of Liberalism (Part 3): The Trans-ing of the Political Subject

    Ashley Frawley joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss her Compact column, "How Society Got a Sex Change," and its relevance to the evolution of liberalism. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 16m
  3. The Crisis of Liberalism (Part 2)

    MAR 17

    The Crisis of Liberalism (Part 2)

    Geoff Shullenberger and Ashley Frawley continue to explore the crisis of liberalism. They begin by discussing recent reversals around free-speech debates in the United States and the odd fact that ostensible post- and anti-liberals have often positioned themselves as defenders of a central liberal value: free speech. They then begin to explore the postliberal critique and other blame narratives that have arisen around liberalism in recent years and ask whether the problem with liberalism is that it grants too much freedom, or too little. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 9m
  4. The Crisis of Liberalism (Part 1)

    MAR 7

    The Crisis of Liberalism (Part 1)

    Liberalism is in crisis. Its parties and institutions are suffering one setback after another across the West, and forces described as “illiberal” are on the rise globally. But when did this crisis begin? Was liberalism ever not in crisis? Is liberalism itself a kind of crisis? In the first episode of a longer series on the meanings and legacies of liberalism, Ashley Frawley and Geoff Shullenberger lay out the themes and questions that will inform their exploration of an ideology that has received plenty of blame from both the right and the left—in part because it has been the dominant one for hundreds of years. In this conversation, Ashley explains why the conflict between social and political liberalism and economic liberalism is foundational to the modern world, and constitutes a crisis that liberalism has never been able to transcend. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 15m
  5. Blaming Men, Blaming Women (Part 1)

    JAN 17

    Blaming Men, Blaming Women (Part 1)

    Geoff and Ashley discuss the online war of the sexes prompted by a recent mass shooting, which Ashley wrote about last month. They then explore the deeper roots of the gendered blame game that often defines our online culture wars. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 9m
  6. The Age of Emotion

    12/15/2024

    The Age of Emotion

    Ashley Frawley, Compact’s new senior editor as well as a new co-host of Blame Theory, joins Geoff Shullenberger to explore how collective social and political problems have been blamed on individual psychic and emotional defects. We discuss her two books on this subject, examine the history of therapeutic culture, and explore to what extent particular thinkers—Pareto? Freud?—bear some of the blame for this set of developments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 7m
  7. Who Is to Blame for Wokeness?

    10/08/2024

    Who Is to Blame for Wokeness?

    Sociologist Musa al-Gharbi joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss his new book We Have Never Been Woke. A great deal of discussion of wokeness attempts to trace it to the influence of certain thinkers and ideas: Foucault, Critical Race Theory, and so on. Al-Gharbi offers a different approach, focusing on the social stratum in which woke ideas became salient—that of "symbolic capitalists"—and how ideas function as a currency of social legitimation and status competition.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 55m
  8. Blame Marx?

    09/27/2024

    Blame Marx?

    Compact's Sohrab Ahmari joins Geoff Shullenberger to discuss one of the most widely blamed thinkers of all time: Karl Marx. We consider why Republicans, all the way up to Donald Trump, are reviving anti-communist rhetoric during the 2024 presidential campaign, to what extent Marx can be blamed for the crimes of regimes inspired by his theories, why Marxism is so appealing to intellectuals, what we can still learn from Capital today, and more.   Listen either here on Substack or on your preferred podcast app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit compactmag.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 16m
See All (15)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Anchored by Geoff Shullenberger and Ashley Frawley, Blame Theory takes a seriously playful look at the ideas that have shaped our minds and our world, to ask: How have we ended up here, and whom or what can we blame? compactmag.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Geoff Shullenberger
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    15
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Compact Magazine
  • Show Website
    Blame Theory

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