Bonus Sample: Max Haiven’s The Player and the Played
Bonus Sample: Max Haiven’s The Player and the Played  
Podcast: Conspirituality
Published On: Mon Oct 12 2026
Description: Listen to the full episode Max Haiven's The Player and the Played: From Gamed Capitalism to Twenty-First Century Fascism (MIT Press, 2026) argues that financialized capitalism has turned us all into speculative "players" in rigged games. It produces a "cheated player" whose resentment the far right redirects onto scapegoats rather than the ruling class. This is what contemporary fascism is.  Matthew reviews Haiven’s re-reading of the conspirituality era: QAnon as a participatory game, Gamergate as a prototype of the "playgrom," and January 6th as a swarm of user-generated fascism. He traces how his own frameworks for conspirituality have shifted: cult dynamics, Lagalisse on conspiracy theory as allegory, Dean's communicative capitalism, Lubrano on the limits of persuasion.  NOTE: Contains Squid Game spoilers through season 3. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices