Imagine a society whose rulers suppress free speech, free association, even bathroom breaks. Where the government owns the means of production. Where the leader is self-appointed or hand-selected by a group of wealthy oligarchs. Where exile or emigration can have severe, even life-threatening, consequences. My guest today, University of Michigan Philosopher Elizabeth Anderson, writes that workplaces are “communist dictatorships in our midst.” Her book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Private-Government-Employers-University-Center/dp/0691176515">Private Government: How Employers Rule our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk About It)</a> draws an extended analogy between firms and tyrannical governments, each of which she believes hold extended, unaccountable power over people’s lives. Anderson is one for the most influential philosophers alive today, and her aim isn’t just to be provocative. It’s to argue that the ideals of representation, rights, and legitimacy that we apply to public governments should extend to private governments, too. And beyond that, it is to pose a question about the lenses through which we peer out at the world: “Why do we not recognize such a pervasive part of our social landscape for what it is?” I don’t agree with Anderson on every point, but she’s offering a gift: another framework for understanding the world in which we live. This is the kind of conversation that sticks with you, that leaves everything looking just a little bit different. Book recommendations: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/What-Populism-Jan-Werner-Müller/dp/0812248988">What is Populism? </a>by Jan Werner-Muller <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Communicating-Moral-Concern-Critical-Responsiveness/dp/0262018942">Communicating Moral Concern </a>by Elise Springer <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Racial-Contract-Charles-W-Mills/dp/0801484634">The Racial Contract</a> by Charles Mills Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com

Are bosses dictators? (With Elizabeth Anderson)

Vox Conversations brings you discussions between the brightest minds and the deepest thinkers; conversations that will cause you to question old assumptions and think about the world and our role in it in a new light. Join Sean Illing, Jamil Smith, and their colleagues across the Vox newsroom for new episodes every Monday and Thursday.