Matthew Stewart

On Point, May 2018

How The Top 9.9 Percent Is Leaving The Rest In The Dust

Forget the top one-percenters, it’s the top 9.9 percenters who are holding everyone else down.

PBS News Hour, June 2018

How a new aristocracy’s self-segregation puts stress on society

Growing class division is destabilizing our society, argues author and philosopher Matthew Stewart in a provocative Atlantic magazine cover story.

The Atlantic, June 2018

The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy

The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem.

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Politics in the U.S., May 2016

The Heterodox Republic

A two-part essay on The Religion of Nature and The Two Voices of Liberalism

salon.com. July 4, 2015

Extraterrestrial Thoughts on Independence Day

On this 4th of July, when the smoke from the last of the fireworks drifts away and you can once again see the starry sky above, it may be worth reflecting on the fact that America’s founders were pretty sure that those stars were home to an immense population of space aliens.

Politico Magazine, September 1, 2014

The Original Tea Partier Was an Atheist

How do we decide who deserves a place in history? Generations of devoted American history buffs have spent countless hours reading and writing long books about the American Revolution without ever having come across the name of Dr. Thomas Young.

Harvard Business Review, July 21, 2014

Hobby Lobby and the Separation of Church and Business

Could the recent Hobby Lobby decision by the US Supreme Court threaten the economy? Yes, it could. Much of the attention around the decision has focused on implications for women’s health care – which is indeed a crucial issue. But in order to understand the deeply troubling implications for business and the economy, we need to go back — all the way back to the legal origins of the corporation.

The Atlantic, June 2006

The Management Myth

Most of management theory is inane. If you want to succeed in business, don’t get an M.B.A. Study philosophy instead. During the seven years that I worked as a management consultant, I spent a lot of time trying to look older than I was. I became pretty good at furrowing my brow and putting on somber expressions. Those who saw through my disguise assumed I made up for my youth with a fabulous education in management.

strategy+business, April 2010

Theory U and Theory T

Management theory books and disaster films have something in common. Both confront the prospect of the near-total destruction of life as we know it. In the movies, the hero invariably realizes what must be done and saves the world just before the credits roll.

Washington Post, November 2009

The Seduction of Leadership Gurus

When I showed up for my first job as a management consultant—a job that I imagined would soon require me to make tough decisions involving the fate of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in profits—I felt ready to lead.

The Independent (UK), September 2009

Masters of Illusion

It's cost the NHS £300m and its practitioners are wielding the axe at magazine giant Condé Nast. But is it all just smoke and mirrors? Ex-management consultant Matthew Stewart recalls his career in the "efficiency business"—and reveals its dark arts.

A Conversation with Matthew Stewart

Discussing Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World

El inventor del submarino era comunista y pacifista

The first submariner was a pacifist and utopian communist (in Spanish)