E11. Are White Collar Workers to Blame?

IN THIS EPISODE

"The institution isn't failing in spite of us. It's failing because we keep it going the way it is."

In this deeply personal and reflective solo episode, Aparna and Lars hold up a mirror to the white-collar workforce. Diving into the works of sociologist Musa al-Gharbi (We Have Never Been Woke) and cultural theorist Catherine Liu (Virtue Hoarders), they break down two uncomfortable frameworks: Symbolic Capitalism and the Professional Managerial Class (PMC).

If you deal in symbols, ideas, and knowledge from the neck up, you are likely part of this class. But here lies the contradiction: while white-collar progressives fiercely perform moral goodness, they are often deeply allergic to the structural economic changes that would actually cost them their material safety. From language policing to the commodification of trauma culture, Aparna and Lars unpack the distractions we use to avoid real class solidarity.

THE QUESTION WE'RE SITTING WITH

What are you avoiding, and who are you protecting with that avoidance?

TAKE THIS WITH YOU

Track Your Discomfort: Notice when you over-index on righteousness or jargon. Ask yourself: is your reaction serving a collective movement, or just your own moral ego?

Build Consciousness, Not Just Literacy: Move past performative "diversity literacy" and build deep race and class consciousness by understanding how systemic policies actively protect wealth hoarding.

Start Outside If You Can't Inside: If labor organizing doesn't feel feasible at your desk job yet, plug into local mutual aid networks where real resource redistribution is happening.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• We Have Never Been Woke by Musa al-Gharbi - https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691232607/we-have-never-been-woke?srsltid=AfmBOopC3RgPK_NEmfD8MN2pH-bmnP0A9kkKv5_NTJXMRU7_G1MX-9lW

• Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the PMC by Catherine Liu - https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517912253/virtue-hoarders/

• Jason Hickel's research on economic democracy and degrowth - https://jasonhickel.substack.com/

• Get on the Job and Organize by Jaz Brisack - https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Get-on-the-Job-and-Organize/Jaz-Brisack/9781668080801

CONNECT WITH US

Visit us at https://www.circleback.club/

Aparna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aparnarae; aparnarae.com

Lars on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lars-gallien; https://www.larsgallien.com/