@musaalgharbi
Asst. Professor of Communication, Journalism and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stony Brook University. Author of, "We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite" -- out now via Princeton University Press.
Bottom line: the "Robin Hood" style approach only works if the money taken from the rich ends up in the hands of the needy. But this is something the U.S. is uniquely bad at -- largely as a result of symbolic capitalists diverting huge sums of cash into special interest groups and our own pockets.
Nordic countries had a system like the U.S., with lots of carveouts & exclusions (+ accompanying waste, abuse, perverse incentives, and folks falling through the cracks): musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/189580755/...
They moved towards predistribution, universalized benefits and direct assistance.
America's idiosyncratic failures are structural problems that demand structural solutions. Predistribution, direct transfers, and universalized policies are promising alternatives to America's "Robin Hood" approach to taxing and spending: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/189580755/...
To add insult onto injury, symbolic capitalists often pretend to be helpless cogs, "ordinary joes" or "barely getting by" -- see all the poverty LARPing by professionals in the NY Times -- deceiving no one but ourselves while infuriating many: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/189580755/...
Symbolic capitalists' tendencies to divert state wealth into special interests and their own pockets, and then micromanage working class and poor people for the little they trickle down causes resentment towards us and mistrust of the state: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/189580755/...
America's unique approach to taxing and redistribution is a fantastic deal for symbolic capitalists, but it's a pretty terrible arrangement for everyone else: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/189580755/...
The U.S. aversion to predistribution, universalized benefits and/or direct transfers creates incentives for fraud and abuse, causes needy people to be excluded from aid & generates poverty traps + other perverse incentive structures among "beneficiaries": musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/189580755/...
In *principle* America's approach is to take more narrowly from the rich and give more narrowly to the poor. In *practice,* this has allowed U.S. symbolic capitalists to capture most wealth intended for others then sprinkle the crumbs on the disadvantaged: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/189580755/...
The United States takes in extraordinary sums of money in taxes. What's unique about us is how little the average citizen (and especially poor and working class Americans) gets from this captured wealth: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/189580755/...
Often lost in conversation: the U.S. has an incredibly progressive tax system. More progressive than most other peer countries: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/189580755/...
Generally, millionaires, billionaires and corporations are taxed *more,* and ordinary people are taxed *less,* here.
Going into it, if you'd asked me who was to blame for many social problems, I would've answered "millionaires, billionaires & multinational corporations." Not wrong. But "we" are a big part of the reason U.S. redistribution doesn't solve those problems: musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/on-redistr...
My latest for Symbolic Capital(ism) explores how my views on redistribution have evolved as a result of researching and writing my first book 🧵
TikTok just demonetized Current Affairs. No explanation. Just kicked us out and eliminated our income stream and said we violated an unspecified policy. Of course the only thing we've done that could possibly be controversial is be critical of imperialism and genocide.
The RoboTaxi is roughly as safe as a brand-new teen driver. Which doesn't offer a lot of confidence, given that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15-20-year-olds in the US, with thousands of teen drivers dying each year.
fortune.com/2026/02/26/t...
We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi
Musa al-Gharbi
@musaalgharbi.bsky.social will be at St. John's College tomorrow (March 1st) at 4:00pm MST to discuss his book, We Have Never Been Woke! Learn how a new “woke” elite uses the language of social justice to gain more power—often at the expense of the marginalized—at this free event: buff.ly/C9UNtIT
We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi
Musa al-Gharbi
@musaalgharbi.bsky.social will be at St. John's College next week, March 1st at 4:00pm MST to discuss his book, We Have Never Been Woke! Learn how a new “woke” elite uses the language of social justice to gain more power—often at the expense of the marginalized—at this free event: buff.ly/C9UNtIT
We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi
Musa al-Gharbi
See @musaalgharbi.bsky.social at Cleveland State University tomorrow (Feb 17) at 4:00 pm EST! With a panel, he will discuss his book, We Have Never Been Woke, and questions about ideology, academic culture, and the role of universities in public life.
Register for this free event: buff.ly/nbrZS9C
"Emphasizing a priori theorizing over post-hoc analysis can potentially lead to sharper, more robust historical narratives and help to strengthen the inferential power of interpretations or theories regarding causes of past events."
We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi
Musa al-Gharbi
See @musaalgharbi.bsky.social at Cleveland State University next week, Feb 17 at 4:00 pm EST! With a panel, he will discuss his book, We Have Never Been Woke, and questions about ideology, academic culture, and the role of universities in public life.
Register for this free event: buff.ly/nbrZS9C
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... @princetonupress.bsky.social @musaalgharbi.bsky.social
Long story short: even if you've seen lots of podcasts/ interviews/ articles about the book, you should really read the book itself.
More about the book (and links to order it from your preferred vendor and in your preferred format) here: musaalgharbi.com/paperback-ed...
As I've noted occasionally there are major swaths of the book that, to my mind, are some of its biggest contributions, but that are widely neglected in pretty much all interviews about the book because they're *super* uncomfortable and would be *very* awkward to discuss.
Great review of We Have Never Been Woke by @nicolebarbarophd.bsky.social: bookmarkedreads.substack.com/p/review-of-...
This should be the North Star of criminal justice reform.
You can check out the full list of 2026 Center for Community News Faculty Champions (and learn more about the great work of the CCN) here: uvmd10.drup2.uvm.edu/ccn/2026-fac...
Honored to be one of the Center for Community News.
Over the next year, I'll be working to build on SBU's partnerships with local news organizations to help provide students with experience, local news orgs with quality content, and LI folks a platform for their lives, communities & perspectives
New at Can We Still Govern: Here is one thing I wish more people understood about government. There is a lot of rent-seeking by private vendors in our social safety net. Trump's policies will make this worse.
@lukef.bsky.social breaks it down. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-means-...
100%. I honestly believe political leaders ask too little of people. The thinking is you need an extraordinarily low bar - so ask people for money or to sign something. People want to be part of something and they're eager to do real meaningful work in defense of their community and their rights.
An extraordinary document. Read it.
“Attached to this order is an appendix that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases. … ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”
