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“Good in theory, bad in practice.” Sure, the concept sounds nice, but people aren’t very nice, right? Isn’t capitalism much more suited to human nature—a nature dominated by competitiveness and venality?
Socialists don’t believe these truisms. They don’t view history as a mere chronicle of cruelty and selfishness. They also see countless acts of empathy, reciprocity, and love. People are complex: they do unspeakable things, but they also engage in remarkable acts of kindness and, even in difficult situations, show deep regard for others.
Adaner Usmani is a graduate student at New York University and on the board of “New Politics.”
Filmed at Verso Books in Brooklyn, March 14, 2017. Anne Helen Petersen talks about her new book Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman with Julie Gerstein, BuzzFeed Senior Lifestyle Editor.
If a woman dares to be too boisterous, or too outspoken, society’s reaction is to tear them down. This has always been the status quo, but in spite of the opposition, the persona of the unruly woman has begun to garner positive attention and carve itself into the cultural consciousness. In this fascinating read, Petersen examines the traits that make a woman unruly, and why in today’s culture, some celebrities that meet the mark are met with ever rising fame, as well as scorn. Why are we as societal voyeurs drawn to these women, and simultaneously harsh in our judgement of them? 
Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York City. He wrote Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism and founded www.democracyatwork.info, a non-profit advocacy organization of the same name that promotes democratic workplaces as a key path to a stronger, democratic economic system.
Professor Wolff discusses the economic dimensions of our lives, our jobs, our incomes, our debts, those of our children, and those looming down the road in his unique mixture of deep insight and dry humor. He presents current events and draws connections to the past to highlight the machinations of our global economy. He helps us to understand political and corporate policy, organization of labor, the distribution of goods and services, and challenges us to question some of the deepest foundations of our society.