The 2022-2023 Altman Program: Contesting Authority

In the episode by Grace Seifert and Micaela Anders, they hone in on two examples of what exactly contesting authority can look like. Both of them focused on events in American history, specifically times in which the authority of the US government and military was challenged. Grace looked at the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 and the subsequent events, and Micaela looked at a white, working-class town during the Vietnam War. In contexts that are seemingly so different, they realized that manifestations of contesting authority are not always obvious, and the ability to contest authority is often limited by aspects of identity, such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Sometimes, such as in the case of the Dakota people, mere existence is a way to contest authority; other times, such as in working-class America in the Vietnam War, it is the simple internal recognition that an authority is flawed; and, other times, it is the protesting emblematic of the anti-war movement and civil rights movements of the 1960s. 

In the episode by Liam Martin and Alyssa Benson, they apply their interpretations about authority from class, seminars, and lectures to the Soviet and post-Soviet world. In particular, they focus on how analyzing the Soviet Union and its legacy offers insight into the ways that leaders manipulate history, the way that leaders interact with ideologies, and how ethnic identities influence regional politics in the present. In a broad ranging discussion that connects Stalin’s attempts to erase the Holodomor from history to Putin’s attempts to deny Ukrainian history and identity, they show how models of authority can succeed and fail to explain the uniqueness of Soviet history. 

In the episode recorded by Joey Puckett and Alex Massa, the discussion was centered around academic authority, credentialism, and the concept of merit. Michael Sandel’s The Tyranny of Merit is used as a catalyst for this conversation as they address the shortcomings of his book in relation to these topics. Specifically, they investigate whether or not Sandel offers an actionable solution to the meritocratic system that he critiques – the two of them arrive at different conclusions on this point. Finally, they talk about credentialism in relation to truth, i.e., whether or not the authority of experts will be seen as legitimate in the future. Throughout this discussion they cover topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased relevance of populism in the West. Overall, they aim to provide insights on the nature of social hierarchy and changing notions of authority present at each rung.