Eric Kaufmann on Immigration, Identity, and the Limits of Individualism

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2019

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Going back and forth between Canada and Japan during his childhood sparked Eric Kaufmann’s interest in the question of identity. As a foreigner in an international school, he encountered young individuals from at least 60 other countries, and this made him think more about national identity and how people affiliate and interact with one another. Now as an academic, he explores how demographic changes — most notably caused by ethnic migration and assimilation — are the key to understanding Brexit, Trump, and pretty much every major issue du jour.

Kauffman’s latest book Whiteshift, which examines how declining white ethnic majorities will respond to these changes, is on Tyler’s list as one of the best books of the year. The two discuss the book and more, including Orangeism in Northern Ireland, Switzerland’s secret for stability, what Tocqueville got most wrong about America, predictions on Brexit’s final form, why Portugal seems immune to populism, how Notre Dame should be rebuilt, whether the Amish — or Mormons — will take over the world, and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.

Recorded May 28th, 2019

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,
0:08.3	bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.
0:12.5	Learn more at mercatis.org.
0:15.2	And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit
0:20.4	ConversationsWithTyler.com.
0:31.0	Hello, this is Tyler Cowan with another episode of Conversations With Tyler.
0:35.8	And I'm here today with Eric Kaufman, who is a political scientist at Birkbeck College
0:40.1	here in London.
0:41.4	He has just published the highly influential book, White Shift.
0:45.5	Populism, Immigration, and the future of White Majorities.
0:48.9	Eric, welcome.
0:50.1	Great to be here, Tyler.
0:51.1	Let's go back a bit earlier in your career.
0:53.4	I have some questions about Northern Ireland.
0:55.8	Is real estate in Northern Ireland underpriced?
0:58.9	I've been to places say an ant dream, where you can buy a normal house that appears to
1:03.2	be in good shape for about $60,000 or a beautiful huge house on the water for $30,000.
1:09.1	Why are those prices so low?
1:10.8	Is that an arbitrage opportunity?
1:12.4	Well, it depends.
1:14.0	Maybe it's only about five or six days of sunshine a year.
1:16.7	No, I'm just kidding.
	...

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