Socialists put the working class at the center of their political vision. But why, exactly?

Vivek Chibber, professor of sociology at New York University and the author of Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital, answers this question here, as well as capitalism’s inability “to deliver the goods” for workers, who exactly workers are, the precarity of work today, and the problems with the twenty-first century labor movement.

Listen to the conversation between Vivek Chibber and Jacobin‘s Jason Farbman here.

This is the first episode of The ABCs of Socialism, a four-part series taking up some of today’s common questions asked about socialism. Stay tuned for three more episodes that will cover: Does human nature make socialism impossible? Is socialism just a Western, eurocentric concept? And isn’t America already kind of socialist?

Each episode is based on a chapter of Jacobin‘s book The ABCs of Socialism, which is available from our store for $5.

To hear future episodes, as well as many other podcasts, be sure to subscribe to Jacobin Radio at iTunes, Stitcher, or Blubrry.