Eric Kaufmann
Eric Kaufmann
Eric Kaufmann, Latest Publication

Eric’s new book is entitled Whiteshift: populism, immigration and the future of White majorities. It will be published by Penguin (Allen Lane) on October 25, 2018 in the UK and Australia, and in January 2019 in the US with Overlook Press.

The book argues that the current upsurge of right-wing populism in the West stems from the existential plight of white majorities in an age of large-scale North-South migration. Based on extensive survey, demographic and electoral data rather than anecdotes and impressions, it sets out four main white responses to ethnic change: fight, flee, repress and join. It looks ahead, projecting the rise of mixed-race majorities in the West, but viewing this less as a futuristic end of identity than evidence for Whiteshift, the absorption of a great deal of ethnoracial difference into historic white majorities. The book makes the case for an open form of white identity, urging that whiteness be de-stigmatised and nested within modular national identities. Western societies need to frankly address the ‘who are we?’ and ‘where are we going?’ questions which high-identifying members of white majorities are asking if we hope to avert deeper divisions – even terrorism – within western societies.

Background

Eric recently completed an ESRC project, Diversity and the White Working Class in England. The project involved a partnership with the think tank Demos, and its Politics of Demography project. Work on related concerns continues as part of the Demography, Integration and Immigration group at the think tank Policy Exchange. Research uses quantitative data and some focus group work to examine value-based polarization among white ethnic majorities in response to rising diversity. The argument is that ethnic majorities are responding to increasing diversity though a) ‘exit’, i.e. withdrawing through white flight or avoidance, or social network isolation; b) ‘voice’ – opposition to immigration and voting for anti-immigration parties; or c) ‘accommodation’ – increased intermarriage, habituation to change and residential mixing.

Eric’s recent books have focused on political demography – the politics of population change. He  has a continuing interest in national identity and questions of dominant-group ethnic identity, as well as religious fundamentalism. His most recent trade press book, Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth argued that the more religious people are, regardless of income, faith tradition or education, the more children they have. Religious countries have faster population growth than secular ones which is why immigrants are typically much more religious than their secular host societies. The cumulative effect of immigration and religious fertility is to slow or reverse the secularisation process in the West.

View talk on book ‘Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth’ from Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Sydney Opera House, Oct 3, 2010

 

Sign up to Eric Kaufmann’s podcast feed, a collection of lectures and talks featuring Eric as speaker or moderator [iTunes] [soundcloud version]

 

 Latest Articles, Appearances and News

 

Upcoming 

  • Launch of my book Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the Future of White Majorities (Penguin Allen Lane), Birkbeck College, 15 November
  • Speaking at Brexit event, Birkbeck College, 27 September
  • Speaking on ‘Pricing Immigration: the egotropic and sociotropic costs Britons will pay to reduce migration,’ at Elections, Public Opinion and Parties (ePoP) conference, Royal Holloway University of London, 16 September

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