See below for details of a number of online and in-person seminars coming up
The Politics of Feeling: Populism, Progressivism, Liberalism
Saturday April 11th 2026, 17:00-19:00 BST
with Ben Anderson, Anna J. Seccor, Will Davies, Jeremy Gilbert and Carolyn Pedwell
This event forms part of our ongoing series, From Marx to Spinoza, but will also be of interest to anyone interested in contemporary politics and / or cultural studies.
A launch event to mark the publication of The Politics of Feeling: Populism, Progressivism, Liberalism by Ben Anderson and Anna J. Seccor.
The Politics of Feeling argues that politics has become a matter of political feelings in an age of uncertainty. The uncertainties of the post-2008 period have transformed the political arena and made the question of how people feel central to the formation of political affiliations and divisions. The book identifies three competing political forms in the US and the UK today: right-wing populism, progressivism, and contemporary liberalism. It argues that rather than naming coherent programs of political thought, these popular political forms are operating as arrangements or modes of attachment and political intensity. Each one suggests a different way of remembering the past, imagining the future, and making the present politically meaningful. Each one elevates some affective orientations over others and thereby etches differences of race, class, and gender within its structure. The Politics of Feeling is a critique of the living edge of politics, where feelings emerge, gather intensity, or dissolve in the continual making and remaking of the politics of the present.
At this online launch event the authors will present key arguments from the book, with responses and comments from Carolyn Pedwell, Will Davies and Jeremy Gilbert
Free, all welcome, BOOK HERE
Live Emergency Podcasts! UK Local and Devolved Elections Debriefs
May 13th (in person) and May 15th (online) 2026
Alan Finlayson and Jeremy Gilbert will be discussing the outcomes of the UK local and devolved elections in May 2026 with a live audience, and you can be part of that!
May 13th we will be hosted by The Autonomy Institute in Bethnal Green, London, for a live event and podcast recording. All details and booking HERE.
May 15th we will be hosting a live online seminar for those who can’t get to Bethnal Green on a Wednesday evening easily. All details and booking HERE.
Yes, at least one of these, and probably both, will be recorded for the podcast feed.
The Battle for Britain: Crises, Conflicts and the Conjuncture
June 2nd – July 14th 2026 (four sessions)
John Clarke’s The Battle for Britain: Crises, Conflicts and the Conjuncture (2023) is a major work of political, cultural and social analysis, investigating the state of Britain in the wake of Brexit. A classic exercise in cultural studies, this book attends to all of the complex interconnections between histories of imperialism, class struggle, radicalisation, nation-building, democratisation and repression that define our political epoch. John has been a very significant contributor to British social theory, critical policy studies and cultural studies since the 1970s, when he was one of the co-authors of Policing the Crisis.
Over four 2-hour sessions, John will introduce the key arguments of the book and discuss them with seminar participants. The series will be hosted and facilitated by Jeremy Gilbert, with Sarah Bufkin, Jo Littler and Anamik Saha acting as respondents in individual seminars.
The series will be hosed by The Autonomy Institute and Culture, Power and Politics and is free to attend. Registration is required and space will be limited.