Margaret Somers
@peggs.bsky.social
Prof. of Sociology and History, Univ. Michigan, Ann Arbor: Karl Polanyi; Law and Political Economy; dedemocratization and fascism; historical political economy; citizenship rights; social theory.
Pinned
Reposted by Margaret Somers
The idea that there are no protests in the US and no one is standing up to Trump is proving incredibly hard to kill over here in Germany. It’s become dogma, utterly detached from empirical reality.
I wonder if the people who keep talking like that understand they’re perpetuating regime propaganda.
I wonder if the people who keep talking like that understand they’re perpetuating regime propaganda.
January 21, 2026 at 11:55 AM
The idea that there are no protests in the US and no one is standing up to Trump is proving incredibly hard to kill over here in Germany. It’s become dogma, utterly detached from empirical reality.
I wonder if the people who keep talking like that understand they’re perpetuating regime propaganda.
I wonder if the people who keep talking like that understand they’re perpetuating regime propaganda.
Reposted by Margaret Somers
One day I will do this for Butters bsky.app/profile/theo...
Ken Burns Announces New 10-Part ‘Mr. Biscuits’ Documentary After Adopting Cat https://theonion.com/ken-burns-announces-new-10-part-mr-biscuits-documentary-after-adopting-cat/
January 9, 2026 at 5:07 PM
One day I will do this for Butters bsky.app/profile/theo...
Reposted by Margaret Somers
Also, its illegal to discuss gender in some American universities now.
This is the second time in three months a DHS agent called a US citizen a "bitch" as he shot her. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/whos-threa...
January 10, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Also, its illegal to discuss gender in some American universities now.
Reposted by Margaret Somers
A new Yale–Columbia study confirms what many have feared: the Supreme Court is increasingly ruling for the wealthy, with GOP-appointed justices siding with the richer party 70% of the time this decade, up from ~45% in the 1950s.
Supreme Court Increasingly Favors the Rich, Economists Say
www.nytimes.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:28 PM
A new Yale–Columbia study confirms what many have feared: the Supreme Court is increasingly ruling for the wealthy, with GOP-appointed justices siding with the richer party 70% of the time this decade, up from ~45% in the 1950s.
Reposted by Margaret Somers
The Senate Dems who voted to end the shutdown without extending ACA subsidies took in a third of airlines’ PAC-driven election spending last year.
levernews.com/airlines-fav...
levernews.com/airlines-fav...
Airlines’ Favorite Democrats Just Voted To End The Shutdown
The Senate Dems who voted to end the shutdown without extending ACA subsidies took in significant airline PAC-driven election spending last year.
levernews.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:44 PM
The Senate Dems who voted to end the shutdown without extending ACA subsidies took in a third of airlines’ PAC-driven election spending last year.
levernews.com/airlines-fav...
levernews.com/airlines-fav...
Save the Date!!!!!
November 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Save the Date!!!!!
Reposted by Margaret Somers
Trump is trying to rule like a king. Sending masked agents into our cities. Targeting immigrant families. Terrorizing our communities.
But this country does not belong to kings or dictators. It belongs to us.
On October 18, we rise to say #NoKings ! social.demcast.com/s/mcvGYsMF. Find your event
But this country does not belong to kings or dictators. It belongs to us.
On October 18, we rise to say #NoKings ! social.demcast.com/s/mcvGYsMF. Find your event
Find An Event Near You
social.demcast.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Trump is trying to rule like a king. Sending masked agents into our cities. Targeting immigrant families. Terrorizing our communities.
But this country does not belong to kings or dictators. It belongs to us.
On October 18, we rise to say #NoKings ! social.demcast.com/s/mcvGYsMF. Find your event
But this country does not belong to kings or dictators. It belongs to us.
On October 18, we rise to say #NoKings ! social.demcast.com/s/mcvGYsMF. Find your event
Reposted by Margaret Somers
Thanks for posting this prequel to the current attack on higher Ed @gerts-michael.bsky.social.
I’d forgotten that I had summarized it so concisely before it happened! @aaup.org members may find helpful?
I’d forgotten that I had summarized it so concisely before it happened! @aaup.org members may find helpful?
Once again posting this excerpt from Democracy in Chains by @nancymaclean.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/gert...
bsky.app/profile/gert...
From Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean.
October 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Thanks for posting this prequel to the current attack on higher Ed @gerts-michael.bsky.social.
I’d forgotten that I had summarized it so concisely before it happened! @aaup.org members may find helpful?
I’d forgotten that I had summarized it so concisely before it happened! @aaup.org members may find helpful?
Reposted by Margaret Somers
The one good thing about the time we’re in is it *should* now make crystal clear for the doubters how the a significant faction of the Republican Party has cynically deployed “colorblindness” to further an explicitly racist agenda.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
www.politico.com
October 15, 2025 at 12:56 PM
The one good thing about the time we’re in is it *should* now make crystal clear for the doubters how the a significant faction of the Republican Party has cynically deployed “colorblindness” to further an explicitly racist agenda.
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Margaret Somers
This entire argument by Louisiana and the conservatives questions are premised on an erasure of Congress’ enforcement power under the 14th & 15th Amendments.
Literally swinging for the fences to wipe out the premise for the legitimacy of Congress’ power to enact civil rights statutes.
Literally swinging for the fences to wipe out the premise for the legitimacy of Congress’ power to enact civil rights statutes.
October 15, 2025 at 3:43 PM
This entire argument by Louisiana and the conservatives questions are premised on an erasure of Congress’ enforcement power under the 14th & 15th Amendments.
Literally swinging for the fences to wipe out the premise for the legitimacy of Congress’ power to enact civil rights statutes.
Literally swinging for the fences to wipe out the premise for the legitimacy of Congress’ power to enact civil rights statutes.
Reposted by Margaret Somers
Feigning concern about supposed anti-white racism, the Supreme Court is poised to return the country to the 1960s.
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme...
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme...
In Supreme Court Land, Fixing Discrimination Against Black Voters Is The Real Racism
A central grievance motivating today’s conservative legal movement — and the Republican...
talkingpointsmemo.com
October 15, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Feigning concern about supposed anti-white racism, the Supreme Court is poised to return the country to the 1960s.
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme...
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme...
Reposted by Margaret Somers
On the spectacle and reality of power.—
www.unpopularfront.news/p/drawing-ou...
www.unpopularfront.news/p/drawing-ou...
Drawing out Leviathan
A Minor Victory but a Major Defeat
www.unpopularfront.news
September 23, 2025 at 12:41 PM
On the spectacle and reality of power.—
www.unpopularfront.news/p/drawing-ou...
www.unpopularfront.news/p/drawing-ou...
@JohnGanz continues to be one of the most original thinkers on our times...Drawing out Leviathan www.unpopularfront.news/p/drawing-ou...
Drawing out Leviathan
A Minor Victory but a Major Defeat
www.unpopularfront.news
September 25, 2025 at 7:10 PM
@JohnGanz continues to be one of the most original thinkers on our times...Drawing out Leviathan www.unpopularfront.news/p/drawing-ou...
Reposted by Margaret Somers
Well, that rings painfully true...
(From "Toward a New Sociology of Rights: A Genealogy of 'Buried Bodies' of Citizenship and Human Rights," by Margaret Somers and Christopher Roberts, 2008)
(From "Toward a New Sociology of Rights: A Genealogy of 'Buried Bodies' of Citizenship and Human Rights," by Margaret Somers and Christopher Roberts, 2008)
![Text clip that reads, "Startling as it may be in our contemporary nostalgia for the comparative generosity of New Deal and Great Society policies, in this pre-Reagan era social scientists often viewed welfare less as positive protection against the untrammeled market and more as an instrument of social control (Piven & Cloward 1993 [1972]). Only when the full impact of neoliberalism took hold in the late 1980s did this first generation of welfare state scholars turn to an embrace of social citizenship and join it to a wider concern over the entire spectrum of diminishing citizenship rights (Block 1996, Block et al. 1987, Piven & Cloward 1982)."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:znpc23hozgjyrhg2hnzj5w2p/bafkreih3raqjiz4tpmrhpn7kezwx75gallg7hvzukqdor3pywsampgzxgq@jpeg)
May 16, 2024 at 10:16 PM
Well, that rings painfully true...
(From "Toward a New Sociology of Rights: A Genealogy of 'Buried Bodies' of Citizenship and Human Rights," by Margaret Somers and Christopher Roberts, 2008)
(From "Toward a New Sociology of Rights: A Genealogy of 'Buried Bodies' of Citizenship and Human Rights," by Margaret Somers and Christopher Roberts, 2008)
Reposted by Margaret Somers
Weaving together Margaret Somers' concept formation work with Nancy Fraser's research on capitalism, care and social reproduction, Doucet offers a compelling alternative framework for understanding domestic labor.
July 21, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Weaving together Margaret Somers' concept formation work with Nancy Fraser's research on capitalism, care and social reproduction, Doucet offers a compelling alternative framework for understanding domestic labor.
Reposted by Margaret Somers
Margaret Somers has a really moving chapter in her book Genealogies of Citizenship called Genealogies of Katrina that I think is an excellent companion read to any of the documentaries people are mentioning here
August 29, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Margaret Somers has a really moving chapter in her book Genealogies of Citizenship called Genealogies of Katrina that I think is an excellent companion read to any of the documentaries people are mentioning here
Just published! escholarship.org/uc/item/1jb6...
Toward a Predistributive Democracy: Polanyi and Piketty on Capitalism, Moral Economy, and Democracy in Crisis
Author(s): Somers, Margaret | Abstract: As accelerating inequality careens into plutocracy, and America tilts toward autocracy, Karl Polanyi and Thomas Piketty have become key resources for understand...
escholarship.org
September 15, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Just published! escholarship.org/uc/item/1jb6...
Reposted by Margaret Somers
The free speech activist who built a list of professors he worked to get fired for their speech must be celebrated for his support of free speech, and anyone who quotes his speech accurately in context will be fired and/or face state punishment by the champions of free speech, do I have that right?
September 15, 2025 at 2:43 PM
The free speech activist who built a list of professors he worked to get fired for their speech must be celebrated for his support of free speech, and anyone who quotes his speech accurately in context will be fired and/or face state punishment by the champions of free speech, do I have that right?
Reposted by Margaret Somers
"Economists attribute 20% of the racial wealth gap to disproportionate criminal justice interactions. A bold proposal for repairing this collective injury is universal basic income…recidivism rates in the pilot’s first year were 7% – and 3% in the second year – compared to the state average of 43%."
Why we need basic income as reparations for racial injustice
Slavery caused stark wealth inequalities in the US – now that wealth must be returned to its rightful owners
www.opendemocracy.net
September 15, 2025 at 1:16 PM
"Economists attribute 20% of the racial wealth gap to disproportionate criminal justice interactions. A bold proposal for repairing this collective injury is universal basic income…recidivism rates in the pilot’s first year were 7% – and 3% in the second year – compared to the state average of 43%."
Reposted by Margaret Somers
the thought police are here...I don't recognize my country.
September 15, 2025 at 7:44 PM
the thought police are here...I don't recognize my country.