John Ehrenreich

Visiting Scholar

John Ehrenreich is Professor of Psychology (formerly Professor of American Studies) at the State University of New York – Old Westbury. He has written extensively on American social policy and social structure. His books include The Altruistic Imagination: A History of Social Work and Social Policy in the United StatesThe Cultural Crisis of Modern Medicine (edited); and The American Health Empire: Power, Profits, and Politics (with Barbara Ehrenreich and the Staff of Health PAC). His new book, Third Wave Capitalism: How Money, Power, and the Pursuit of Self-Interest have Imperiled the American Dream, is published by Cornell University Press.




Participating Years


2016–2017

Consciousness and Revolution

The place of consciousness in radical theory and practice is a subject of significant dispute. Marx believed that much of what we construe as consciousness is “false,” a rationalization or an ideological reflex that stands between people and the “true material needs” of their life processes. Are consciousness and revolution mediated in the same ways today?