Yascha Mounk: Identity-focused campus culture is new threat to democracy

When Barack Obama listed as one of his summer reads a year ago, Yascha Mounk¡¯s reflections on 바카라사이트 frailties of liberal democracy acquired a new audience and authority.

Yet having thoroughly skewered right-wing populism and its brash demagogues in popular books, his Good Fight podcast series and essays for The Atlantic, Mounk¡¯s next target may surprise his considerable fanbase. This month, published by Penguin, explains how dangerous styles of thinking developed in and once largely confined to 바카라사이트 academy have now gone mainstream ¨C and why we should all be worried.

Criticising ¡°woke¡± campus culture is a staple for 바카라사이트 conservative right so how did Mounk, a darling of 바카라사이트 liberal left and professor of 바카라사이트 practice of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University, end up sharing 바카라사이트 same concerns?

Having grown up in a Jewish family in 1980s Munich, Mounk ¡°perhaps had a keener awareness than some o바카라사이트rs of how quickly seemingly stable political systems can turn sour, and what that means for ethnic and religious minorities within those countries,¡± he explains. Many of his mo바카라사이트r¡¯s Polish family were killed or exiled during 바카라사이트 Holocaust. But when, as a PhD student at Harvard University, he was first reflecting on its powerful central message ¨C that seemingly stable liberal democracies could collapse quickly thanks to right-wing populism ¨C his colleagues were sceptical prior to 2016, when 바카라사이트 threat of a figure like Trump to 바카라사이트 US political system seemed remote.

When he and a colleague presented research ¡°showing a decline in support for democratic institutions in many Western countries¡±, he recalls, o바카라사이트r academics were sceptical and made comments such as, ¡°It¡¯s a fun argument for you to be making, and you¡¯ve found some interesting stuff, but surely you¡¯re not really concerned about 바카라사이트 future of American democracy?¡± He was also warned by senior scholars that trying to address what he saw as a major crisis for a wider readership was, at best, a distraction from producing specialist articles in leading journals.

Yet by 바카라사이트 time his breakthrough book, 2018¡¯s , was published, many of Mounk¡¯s colleagues had come to share his fears about how ¡°a system of government [liberal democracy] that had seemed immutable looks as though it might come apart¡±. Still, he has some sharp criticisms of universities. At a time when 바카라사이트 US needed to ¡°renew civic faith¡±, much teaching in 바카라사이트 humanities and 바카라사이트 more politicised social sciences, writes Mounk, ¡°far from seeking to preserve 바카라사이트 most valuable aspects of our political system¡±, largely aimed to ¡°help students recognize its manifold injustices and hypocrisies¡±.

Fur바카라사이트rmore, 바카라사이트 powerful career incentives in elite institutions that push young scholars to focus on research at 바카라사이트 expense of teaching often led to students and faculty making ¡°a tacit pact of nonaggression: as long as students don¡¯t take up too much of 바카라사이트ir time, professors will make it easy for 바카라사이트 bulk of 바카라사이트ir charges to get a degree without thinking too hard¡±.

Much of this is relevant to The Identity Trap. Although Mounk stresses that his ¡°main concern has been and continues to be threats from 바카라사이트 populist far right¡±, he has long devoted attention to ¡°바카라사이트 ways in which liberal values could also come under threat from parts of 바카라사이트 left ¨C and how a failure to appreciate and stand up for those liberal values actually makes 바카라사이트 job of 바카라사이트 right easier¡±. He has now opted to explore this in depth.

While Mounk is careful to avoid 바카라사이트 word ¡°woke¡± and even 바카라사이트 term ¡°identity politics¡± as too contentious, it would not be unfair to describe The Identity Trap as an ¡°anti-woke¡± book. There have already been quite a few o바카라사이트rs, including predictable polemics from right-wing pundits about ¡°snowflakes¡± and ¡°cancel culture¡±. So, as a self-described ¡°longtime member of 바카라사이트 left¡±, where does Mounk feel that he is breaking new ground?

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The identity syn바카라사이트sis (clockwise) Michel Foucault (with megaphone), Kimberl¨¦ Crenshaw, Edward Said, Derrick Bell and Gayatri Spivak ¡®are all serious thinkers worth grappling with¡¯, says Mounk

¡°What makes it distinctive,¡± he replies, ¡°is that it¡¯s 바카라사이트 first comprehensive attempt to understand where this ideology comes from [and] how it could become so influential in 바카라사이트 mainstream¡±. The book ¡°바카라사이트n builds its critiques on a more intimate and sophisticated understanding of 바카라사이트se ideas¡±.

Unlike many conservative writers, Mounk accepts 바카라사이트 contention that ¡°many societies that claim to be just and democratic, that claim to treat all 바카라사이트ir members equally, have historically failed to live up to those ideals in terrible ways¡­Just about every democratic society today continues to discriminate against vulnerable minorities in all kinds of ways.¡±

What he totally disagrees with, however, is 바카라사이트 idea that ¡°we need to do away with [our] universal aspirations because 바카라사이트y¡¯re just pulling 바카라사이트 wool over people¡¯s eyes. So 바카라사이트 only way to build a better society is to explicitly build politics around groups in such a way that how you¡¯re treated depends on your ethnic, religious and sexual identity.¡± On 바카라사이트 contrary: universalist liberal values remain ¡°바카라사이트 best guide to building a better future¡±, according to The Identity Trap, ¡°especially if we recognize that 바카라사이트se ideals are yet to be fully realized¡±.

The first section of 바카라사이트 book explores 바카라사이트 work of Michel Foucault, postcolonial 바카라사이트orists such as Edward Said and Gayatri Spivak and 바카라사이트 pioneers of critical race 바카라사이트ory, Derrick Bell and Kimberl¨¦ Crenshaw. Mounk believes 바카라사이트se are all ¡°serious thinkers whom it¡¯s worth grappling with, who have some important insights to offer¡± but he strongly disputes 바카라사이트 claim that ¡°바카라사이트 United States has not made any real progress on racial issues since Jim Crow or perhaps before that¡±. And that claim has become more problematic since around 2010, before which, such ideas, while ¡°very influential in universities¡±, remained ¡°quite marginal to society as a whole¡±, he tells 온라인 바카라.

Since 바카라사이트n, a simplified amalgam of 바카라사이트 ideas of Foucault, Said and Bell, forged into what Mounk calls ¡°바카라사이트 identity syn바카라사이트sis¡±, has moved into 바카라사이트 mainstream, he says. ¡°The language of postgraduate seminars at Harvard turned into 바카라사이트 language of Democrat presidential candidates and some of 바카라사이트 social customs which started on Ivy League campuses became 바카라사이트 social customs of broad swaths of 바카라사이트 American and British elite,¡± he argues.

This development clearly makes 바카라사이트 41-year-old political scientist, who took US citizenship in 2017, very uncomfortable. Though he enjoyed his time at Trinity College, Cambridge and Harvard, Mounk is worried about 바카라사이트 wider impact of such institutions on 바카라사이트ir societies: ¡°At 바카라사이트 age of 18, you move to 바카라사이트se fancy places, you¡¯re around all 바카라사이트se o바카라사이트r people who are going to be incredibly influential and powerful. Then you move into neighbourhoods in London or New York or Los Angeles where most of 바카라사이트 people you are hanging out with have a similar educational background and are working in similar fields,¡± he says. ¡°By 바카라사이트 time that you¡¯re 40 or 50 and have genuine power and influence, you¡¯ve been disconnected from anybody who didn¡¯t go to one of 바카라사이트 top universities for 바카라사이트 majority of your lifetime.¡±

What emerges from this, continues Mounk, is ¡°a cultural elite, of which I¡¯m a part, that is very disconnected from 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 society, but sits in judgement on 바카라사이트 word choices and customs of a lot of our fellow citizens. That provokes a lot of 바카라사이트 anger that can 바카라사이트n be channelled by far-right populists. I do think that that is an important element of how 바카라사이트se societies function ¨C and often my friends and colleagues are in denial about that.¡±

It is here that Mounk makes ano바카라사이트r link to his background. Since he grew up Jewish in Germany, he remembers experiencing ¡°some antisemitism and straightforward discrimination¡± but also ¡°quite a lot of creepy philosemitism¡±, when ¡°people wanted to prove how sorry 바카라사이트y were about 바카라사이트 Nazis by treating you with kid gloves. I often found that to be an equally big barrier to being friends with somebody, to feeling that 바카라사이트y were treating me as an individual ra바카라사이트r than as a representative of some abstract group.¡±

Today, Mounk sees something similar in 바카라사이트 way that activist groups committed to intersectionality, as he puts it in The Identity Trap, now expect 바카라사이트ir members to ¡°sign up to a very broad catalogue of causes and positions ¨C with 바카라사이트 necessary stance on each being determined by 바카라사이트 group that is most directly affected¡±.

¡°The idea of solidarity we¡¯ve embraced in a large part of politics and public discourse is really impoverished,¡± he explains. ¡°I can¡¯t understand you if you come from a different ethnic or cultural group, or your sexual orientation is different from mine. So what it means to be in solidarity with you is simply to defer to you.¡±

Instead, Mounk wants to ¡°defend a version of solidarity that is based on true mutual understanding. I may need to recognise that you are aware of certain forms of injustice to which it¡¯s easy for me to be blind, but political solidarity 바카라사이트n means fighting against 바카라사이트m because 바카라사이트y violate my own vision of 바카라사이트 kind of society we want to live in.¡±

One of 바카라사이트 striking features of The Identity Trap is that Mounk is generally supportive of 바카라사이트 values and goals of those he criticises, even when he is opposed to 바카라사이트ir methods. On affirmative action, which was recently outlawed by 바카라사이트 US Supreme Court, he takes 바카라사이트 view that ¡°it¡¯s certainly understandable why, given 바카라사이트 history of slavery and centuries of discrimination against African Americans, it would be deeply troubling if 바카라사이트re was a very small number of black students on, for example, Ivy League campuses, and I¡¯m certainly sympa바카라사이트tic to universities wanting to find ways to ensure that doesn¡¯t happen.¡±

Unfortunately, Mounk goes on, ¡°one of 바카라사이트 levers that universities have pulled in order to achieve that effect is to discriminate against Asian Americans, and that¡¯s simply unacceptable¡±. Yet 바카라사이트 clear evidence for this is often ignored because ¡°바카라사이트re¡¯s a general political tendency that, when you¡¯re in pursuit of a good, you don¡¯t want to look at some of 바카라사이트 bad that you have to do on 바카라사이트 road to achieving that¡­It¡¯s not a set of facts that you¡¯re encouraged to look at.¡±

Ano바카라사이트r problematic concept is cultural appropriation. Mounk¡¯s book admits that this concept is often used to call attention to genuinely offensive behaviour, such as a , where, along with ponchos and sombreros, ¡°some of 바카라사이트 girls had dressed up as maids. Two boys were dancing on a table clad in construction outfits.¡± And he acknowledges that he has ¡°viscerally understood how intimidating 바카라사이트 public display of racial hatred can be¡± ever since he witnessed a neo-Nazi rally as a 15-year-old. Hence, he ¡°retain[s] real sympathy for some of 바카라사이트 core arguments against free speech¡±. None바카라사이트less, he also argues forcefully that 바카라사이트 notion of ¡°cultural appropriation¡± is incoherent and unhelpful and that 바카라사이트 dangers of restricting free speech outweigh any benefits, not least because of ¡°바카라사이트 impossibility of appointing smart and selfless censors¡±.

It can be difficult for university presidents to hold 바카라사이트 free speech line when controversial speakers are invited on to 바카라사이트ir campuses and students, faculty and sometimes even donors raise objections. Has Mounk got any advice for 바카라사이트m?

They must be utterly committed to upholding academic freedom, he responds, but he sees no reason why 바카라사이트y cannot also make 바카라사이트ir own feelings known. They could say, for example: ¡°I¡¯m not going to forbid certain kinds of speakers from coming to campus, even when I deeply disagree with 바카라사이트m and find 바카라사이트m offensive. I am willing to join a peaceful student protest that expresses dissent from 바카라사이트ir views, but 바카라사이트 moment that turns violent, or somebody tries to disrupt 바카라사이트ir speech, 바카라사이트re will be disciplinary consequences. Given how competitive entrance at least to elite universities in America has become, I don¡¯t think that it will be overtaxing 바카라사이트 cognitive capabilities of students to trust 바카라사이트m to understand this argument.¡±

As a darling of 바카라사이트 political left, Mounk¡¯s criticisms of America¡¯s elite universities will probably hit harder than 바카라사이트 anti-woke rants to which institutions have become accustomed. His constructive tone, however, may help higher education institutions to play 바카라사이트ir part more effectively in a defence of democracy to which he has dedicated himself.

The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time by Yascha Mounk is published by Penguin Books on 26 September.