Eric Kaufmann is Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham. He joins me for a wide-ranging discussion on wokeness, identity, and immigration. To begin, I ask Prof. Kaufmann about his intellectual journey. Was he always right of center? We then get into his latest book, The Third Awokening. After Prof. Kaufmann defines wokeness for us, we discuss its origins. While some have pointed to civil rights law as the origin of wokeness, he argues to the contrary. In the first half, we also discuss the “woke right” nonsense that has made the rounds on Twitter and the connection between mental illness and wokeness.
In the second half, available to subscribers, we continue our discussion of Prof. Kaufmann's third awokening concept before considering how wokeness can be defeated for good. We then shift gears to discuss Prof. Kaufmann's book Whiteshift. He contrasts white nationalism with what he refers to as ethno-traditional nationalism and argues that this recent wave of populism is more about demographics than economics. We also cover several other topics related to immigration and identity before the conclusion of the episode.
The Third Awokening: A 12-Point Plan for Rolling Back Progressive Extremism (entitled Taboo: How Making Race Sacred Produced a Cultural Revolution in the UK and rest of the world).
Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the Future of White Majorities (Penguin (UK) or Abrams (US))
Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth (Profile)
Eric’s 15-week open online course at the University of Buckingham on Woke: the Origins and Dynamics of an Elite Ideology, which anyone can sign up for at low cost
Eric’s new countercultural Centre for Heterodox Social Science at the university
Eric’s personal site and Twitter
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