What Happens to the Disappointed When Social Movements Fail? (w/ Sara Marcus)
Current Affairs26 Jan 2024

What Happens to the Disappointed When Social Movements Fail? (w/ Sara Marcus)

Sara Marcus is the author of Political Disappointment: A Cultural History from Reconstruction to the AIDS Crisis. A lot of studies of social movements look at movement triumphs, but Marcus is interested in what happens when people fail, when they throw themselves into a cause and (at least in the short term) it doesn't react its goals. Often, she argues, disappointment ends up forming the basis of new culture, expressing itself through art and music, sometimes in subtle ways. There is also a sense of waiting, as movement participants try to hang on until the historical moment is ready for them to act again. She looks, for instance, at Reconstruction, where a nascent multiracial democracy was destroyed before it could be secured, and the AIDS crisis, where activists went through long years of bleak hopelessness.

Today's activists suffer plenty of disappointments of their own, and as they sigh and try to figure out how to move forward, Marcus encourages them to look backward, to see how things looked to previous generations who were trying to change the world and usually not succeeding. Ironically, by learning how to be disappointed we may help ourselves become more optimistic and determined.

"Attending to the ways those we accept as forebears lingered with loss and found new forms and practices to accommodate, process, and transform their disappointment, we, too, can seek forms and practices suitable to our time, working in coalition with the dead as well as the living." — Sara Marcus

Listeners may also be interested in Sam Allison-Natale's essay "Keeping The Faith: Socialism In The Waiting Place," which discusses related issues.

Episoder(600)

Current Affairs News Briefing ❧ January 21, 2026

Current Affairs News Briefing ❧ January 21, 2026

Climate change is sinking posh London homes, pro-Palestine protesters face felony charges, Ugandan president cuts internet during election, Trump’s new Board of Peace, and Nike’s tone-deaf MLK Day bas...

22 Jan 6min

Ed Wood and the Politics of Bad Taste (w/ Will Sloan)

Ed Wood and the Politics of Bad Taste (w/ Will Sloan)

Will Sloan is a film critic and writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Jacobin, and the Toronto Star. He is the co-host, with Luke Savage, of the podcast Michael and Us, which examines poli...

21 Jan 43min

The Coup In Venezuela Is An Assault on the Whole World

The Coup In Venezuela Is An Assault on the Whole World

Donald Trump's overthrow of Nicolás Maduro sets a terrible precedent that severely erodes international sovereignty. Can other countries depose any leader they accuse of a crime?🇻🇪 Read the article:...

6 Jan 18min

How Zohran Mamdani Defeated the Democratic Establishment

How Zohran Mamdani Defeated the Democratic Establishment

In the fall of 2024, Zohran Mamdani was a long-shot challenger taking on New York City’s political establishment. Today, he’s the mayor. In this early interview with Current Affairs, recorded shortly ...

2 Jan 31min

Michael Pollan Is Lying to You About "Ethical" Meat

Michael Pollan Is Lying to You About "Ethical" Meat

John Sanbonmatsu is a professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the author of The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves.The book is a response...

1 Jan 40min

What the Government Shutdown Actually Revealed for Democrats (w/ Ettingermentum)

What the Government Shutdown Actually Revealed for Democrats (w/ Ettingermentum)

Joshua Cohen is a political theorist and writer of the Ettingermentum Substack: an exceedingly thorough and insightful resource for anyone hoping to understand what the hell is going on in American po...

27 Des 202550min

Gaza, Ukraine, and Why Trump’s "Anti-War" Rhetoric Is a Lie (w/ Medea Benjamin)

Gaza, Ukraine, and Why Trump’s "Anti-War" Rhetoric Is a Lie (w/ Medea Benjamin)

Medea Benjamin is an anti-war activist and one of the co-founders of CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She’s spent decades fighting the American military-industrial complex, organizing protests against the i...

19 Des 202547min

Candace Owens and the Decay of the American Brain

Candace Owens and the Decay of the American Brain

How can someone so delusional attract an audience of millions? What does it say about us that Owens is listened to by anyone other than a psychiatrist?🧿 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.o...

16 Des 202528min

Populært innen Humor

papaya
rss-spartsklubben
enkel-servering
harm-og-hegseth
storefri-med-mikkel-og-herman
tore-og-haralds-podkast
tusvik-tnne
topp-3-med-wold-og-fladseth
ma-pa-behandling-med-morten-ramm
folk-flest-med-linn-og-nils
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
misjonen-med-antonsen-og-golden
wolfgang-wee-uncut
hanna-de-heldige
jan-thomas-og-einar-blir-venner
rss-snorre-med-gaute
verdens-verste
rss-det-alle-snakker-om-med-siri-og-kim
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
gutta-backer