Jason Read – Unemployed Negativity

Join us as Jason Read discusses themes from his new book Unemployed Negativity: Fragments on Philosophy, Politics and Culture, covering contemporary cultural touchstones ranging from Planet of the Apes, Breaking Bad, Snowpiercer, Covid and Michel Foucault, Spinoza and conspiracy theories, and more.

Unemployed Negativity is a blog kept by Jason Read for 18 years. During that time, it has been a reflection on everything from the films of Jordan Peele to the relevance of Marxist criticism for contemporary society. It has reflected on such cultural transformations as the lasting legacy of Shark Week to the rise of conspiracy theories in contemporary politics. In doing so it has persisted in one central aim, to make philosophy a living reflection of the present rather than a contemplation of the past.

Newly issued by Mayfly in 2025, Unemployed Negativity is a collection of Read’s blog’s best posts, revised and expanded for publication.

Jason Read is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine and author of several books of social and political philosophy, most recently The Double Shift: Spinoza and Marx on the Politics of Work (Verso, 2023).