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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Whiteshift tells the most important political story of the 21st century: how demographic change is transforming Western politics and how to think about the future of white majorities.
This is the century of whiteshift. As Western societies are becoming increasingly mixed race, demographic change is transforming politics. Over half of American babies are non-white, and by the end of the century, minorities and those of mixed race are projected to form the majority in the UK and other counties. The early stages of this transformation have led to a populist disruption. One of our most crucial challenges is to enable both conservatives and cosmopolitans to view whiteshift as a positive development.
In this groundbreaking book, political scientist Eric Kaufmann traces four ways of dealing with this transformation - fight, repress, flight and join - and calls for us to move beyond empty talk about national identity. To avoid more radical political divisions, we have to open up debate about the future of white majorities.
Deeply thought provoking, Whiteshift offers a wealth of data to redefine the way we discuss race in the twenty-first century.
Eric Kauffman is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College. This book posits that to fight populism in the West politicians should accept white majority concerns about immigration, and consider restrictions on/conditions to the same. Unfortunately, Kauffman fails to explain what he - or indeed white majorities - mean by white culture and as we are seeing in 2025, giving ground to populist extremists only sees them tack harder to white supremacy.
This book was first published in 2019, just as right wing politicians in the US and Western Europe were hitting their stride in pointing to immigration as the root of all their society’s ills. It’s therefore difficult to read this in 2025 because the past 6 years provides a grim illustration of just what happens when you do - as Kauffman suggests - give credence to white majority concerns about immigration, particularly in the USA. Part of my particular frustration with the book is that Kauffman’s own right wing views mean he’s much more concerned about attacking the left and multiculturalism than he is in thinking about how far right extremists might use the ideas he puts forth here to provide a fig leaf for furthering their own agenda, which at best could be described as naive and at worst as downright disingenuous.
The book revolves around what Kauffman has identified as the 4 main white responses to immigration: fight, repress, flight and join. The book focuses on trends supported by additional surveys undertaken by Kauffman to examine what these responses are and suggest what politicians should be doing to prevent populists from using them to further their own agenda.
I can’t fault the amount of research that has gone into this book. There are extensive footnotes where Kauffman draws on other sources and he goes into detail on the methodology he used for his own surveys to support his arguments, including admitting where there are potential shortcomings. Indeed, this book is very much data driven and at times I have to admit that I did find it a bit of a slog as Kauffman goes into detail on the various graphs and charts and sets out where they support his arguments. I also don’t argue with Kauffman’s point that populism taps into a genuine sense of white grievance and fear about what immigration means for white culture and society rather than economic factors and that if politicians are to counter that, then they need to address what those concerns are. I think he makes an interesting point that a fear of being accused of racism has stifled discussion about race and multiculturalism in western societies, notably in the political sphere.
However where I think the book falls down is that Kauffman avoids any examination of those aspect of white culture and society that the white majority wants to preserve, In fact, reading the book it’s pretty clear that what it boils down is a concern about skin colour and speaking the relevant language without a “foreign” accent. I therefore struggled to see how that couldn’t be described as racist. This is a shame because it’s something that he skirts around a number of times within the text - most interestingly when he discusses how survey subjects will talk around race and express concerns about immigration in economic terms because that is perceived as being more acceptable than to say what they are really thinking. In addition, while he considers existing and future immigration on white attitudes, there is zero consideration here of what restrictions/conditions to immigration may have on existing minority populations and whether their presence within a country may be re-examined and evaluated in light of the new restrictions - something that is currently going on in the US and where it’s interesting how Trump voters who wanted a tough line on immigration now have buyers remorse as their neighbours - so-called ‘good’ immigrants - are caught up in the ICE raids.
Where I also struggled with the book was how Kauffman is keen to point out how public opinion has turned against multiculturalism without any in-depth examination of why that might have happened, e.g. the combination of the financial crisis, the rise of right wing media and right wing billionaires keen to push populist agendas (with the bonus in the US of the Citizens United case, which allowed for dark money Super PACS to help shape political campaigns and Astroturf issues). He has a bee in his bonnet about “political correctness”, which he doesn’t go into depth to define, and his only example of left-wing extremism when it comes to race and accusations of racism relates to an incident at one college that I very much doubt many readers will have heard of - not that this stops him from trying to extrapolate the principle as being common to other “liberal” universities. Again, reading this in 2025 it feels insane to me that Kauffman is concerned about white professors being bullied on campus when the US government is literally snatching people off the street based on whether they look hispanic.
Ultimately this is one of those books that has been outpaced by recent history and demonstrates that if you give an inch to populists they will immediately try to take a mile.
The Verdict:
Eric Kauffman is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College. This book posits that to fight populism in the West politicians should accept white majority concerns about immigration, and consider restrictions on/conditions to the same. Unfortunately, Kauffman fails to explain what he - or indeed white majorities - mean by white culture and as we are seeing in 2025, giving ground to populist extremists only sees them tack harder to white supremacy.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Whiteshift tells the most important political story of the 21st century: how demographic change is transforming Western politics and how to think about the future of white majorities.
This is the century of whiteshift. As Western societies are becoming increasingly mixed race, demographic change is transforming politics. Over half of American babies are non-white, and by the end of the century, minorities and those of mixed race are projected to form the majority in the UK and other counties. The early stages of this transformation have led to a populist disruption. One of our most crucial challenges is to enable both conservatives and cosmopolitans to view whiteshift as a positive development.
In this groundbreaking book, political scientist Eric Kaufmann traces four ways of dealing with this transformation - fight, repress, flight and join - and calls for us to move beyond empty talk about national identity. To avoid more radical political divisions, we have to open up debate about the future of white majorities.
Deeply thought provoking, Whiteshift offers a wealth of data to redefine the way we discuss race in the twenty-first century.
Eric Kauffman is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College. This book posits that to fight populism in the West politicians should accept white majority concerns about immigration, and consider restrictions on/conditions to the same. Unfortunately, Kauffman fails to explain what he - or indeed white majorities - mean by white culture and as we are seeing in 2025, giving ground to populist extremists only sees them tack harder to white supremacy.
This book was first published in 2019, just as right wing politicians in the US and Western Europe were hitting their stride in pointing to immigration as the root of all their society’s ills. It’s therefore difficult to read this in 2025 because the past 6 years provides a grim illustration of just what happens when you do - as Kauffman suggests - give credence to white majority concerns about immigration, particularly in the USA. Part of my particular frustration with the book is that Kauffman’s own right wing views mean he’s much more concerned about attacking the left and multiculturalism than he is in thinking about how far right extremists might use the ideas he puts forth here to provide a fig leaf for furthering their own agenda, which at best could be described as naive and at worst as downright disingenuous.
The book revolves around what Kauffman has identified as the 4 main white responses to immigration: fight, repress, flight and join. The book focuses on trends supported by additional surveys undertaken by Kauffman to examine what these responses are and suggest what politicians should be doing to prevent populists from using them to further their own agenda.
I can’t fault the amount of research that has gone into this book. There are extensive footnotes where Kauffman draws on other sources and he goes into detail on the methodology he used for his own surveys to support his arguments, including admitting where there are potential shortcomings. Indeed, this book is very much data driven and at times I have to admit that I did find it a bit of a slog as Kauffman goes into detail on the various graphs and charts and sets out where they support his arguments. I also don’t argue with Kauffman’s point that populism taps into a genuine sense of white grievance and fear about what immigration means for white culture and society rather than economic factors and that if politicians are to counter that, then they need to address what those concerns are. I think he makes an interesting point that a fear of being accused of racism has stifled discussion about race and multiculturalism in western societies, notably in the political sphere.
However where I think the book falls down is that Kauffman avoids any examination of those aspect of white culture and society that the white majority wants to preserve, In fact, reading the book it’s pretty clear that what it boils down is a concern about skin colour and speaking the relevant language without a “foreign” accent. I therefore struggled to see how that couldn’t be described as racist. This is a shame because it’s something that he skirts around a number of times within the text - most interestingly when he discusses how survey subjects will talk around race and express concerns about immigration in economic terms because that is perceived as being more acceptable than to say what they are really thinking. In addition, while he considers existing and future immigration on white attitudes, there is zero consideration here of what restrictions/conditions to immigration may have on existing minority populations and whether their presence within a country may be re-examined and evaluated in light of the new restrictions - something that is currently going on in the US and where it’s interesting how Trump voters who wanted a tough line on immigration now have buyers remorse as their neighbours - so-called ‘good’ immigrants - are caught up in the ICE raids.
Where I also struggled with the book was how Kauffman is keen to point out how public opinion has turned against multiculturalism without any in-depth examination of why that might have happened, e.g. the combination of the financial crisis, the rise of right wing media and right wing billionaires keen to push populist agendas (with the bonus in the US of the Citizens United case, which allowed for dark money Super PACS to help shape political campaigns and Astroturf issues). He has a bee in his bonnet about “political correctness”, which he doesn’t go into depth to define, and his only example of left-wing extremism when it comes to race and accusations of racism relates to an incident at one college that I very much doubt many readers will have heard of - not that this stops him from trying to extrapolate the principle as being common to other “liberal” universities. Again, reading this in 2025 it feels insane to me that Kauffman is concerned about white professors being bullied on campus when the US government is literally snatching people off the street based on whether they look hispanic.
Ultimately this is one of those books that has been outpaced by recent history and demonstrates that if you give an inch to populists they will immediately try to take a mile.
The Verdict:
Eric Kauffman is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College. This book posits that to fight populism in the West politicians should accept white majority concerns about immigration, and consider restrictions on/conditions to the same. Unfortunately, Kauffman fails to explain what he - or indeed white majorities - mean by white culture and as we are seeing in 2025, giving ground to populist extremists only sees them tack harder to white supremacy.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
