Episode 61: Capitalist Utopias II - MLMs and Pyramid Schemes

State of the Theory

This is Episode 61 of the State of the Theory Podcast. Politics. Power. Popular Culture. And other stuff, probably. In this series, we’re like super nerdy philosophical DJs: mashing up Serious Academic Questions with the most topical news and trends in pop culture. Each week, we’ll tackle a new topic and collide it with ‘critical theory’ (we’re pretty loose with our definitions, though, so expect the unexpected). Our aim is to destroy the stuff we know, explore the stuff we don’t and unsettle everything we think we know about the world. We take the obvious, the commonsensical, the certain, and then we rip it all to shreds. We are your theory doctors and we are always on call. In this episode, we continue last week’s discussion on Capitalist Utopias, with friend of the pod and special guest Dr Katie Muth. Following on from the self-help industry, this week we focus on multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes, and their presence in capitalism. Along the way, we talk about Octavia E. Butler, Ursula K. Le Guin, “Star Trek” and “The Matrix”. The difference between MLMs and pyramid schemes that we quote can be found here: https://consumer.sd.gov/fastfacts/marketing.aspx Our theme music is "The Face of God" by The Agrarians (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Agrarians/The_Jovial_Shepherd/The_Face_of_God) State of the Theory is brought to you by Hannah Fitzpatrick and Anindya Raychaudhuri Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/stateofthetheorypodcast) or Tweet us @drhfitz and @DrAnindyaR