In his new book
Rigging The Game: How Inequality is Reproduced in Everyday Life (Oxford University Press, 2014),
Michael Schwalbe identifies the roots of inequality in the appearance of economic surplus as human societies transitioned from communal hunting and gathering societies to forms of sedentary agricultural production that enabled a few to live off the surplus produced by the many. This immanently historical and human development of a class-stratified society was subsequently reified by the exploiting few, and made to appear to others as being the result of divine or natural forces that could not be altered. Schwalbe then reveals the present-day forms of reification used by the wealthy (the American 1%) to justify their privilege to keep poor and working class from imagining a better world and the way to reach it. The book is rich with pedagogical insight and suggestions for classroom use.
In this interview Schwalbe responded to questions about his educational philosophy and views on the 2016 presidential campaign.
Jerry Lembcke can be reached at
jlembcke@holycross.edu and Ellis Jones at
ejones@holycross.edu.