Justin Gest
An award-winning author and commentator, Justin Gest’s work combines serious analysis with clear prose and rich, humanizing detail to illuminate the population dynamics that will drive politics, business, and social relations for years to come. His 2016 book, The New Minority, presaged the power of white working class voters to disrupt US elections. His 2018 book, Crossroads, foresaw the “uberization” of global migration, and his 2022 book, Majority Minority, anticipated the challenges faced today by diverse democracies.
His latest book, Democratic Drain, focuses on the unintended political consequences of migration. Steven Levitsky, the David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard University, calls it “an important read for anyone interested in democratic backsliding-and how to reverse it.” With novel ideas and thought-provoking insights, Gest inspires audiences to think hard about how to discern new social, demographic, and political trends and how to prepare for an era of fast-moving change.
“Justin Gest’s Majority Minority is a treasure trove of analysis, information, data and, most importantly, a thoughtful conclusion based on solid research. Gest addresses what has become a central dilemma in the nation’s politics: how can white Americans come to terms with the loss of majority status? Majority Minority could not be more relevant.”
—Thomas B. Edsall, The New York Times
He is a Professor of Policy and Government at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. A columnist for Newsweek, he also provides commentary and reporting to several broadcast networks, including ABC, BBC, CBC, CNN, and NPR, as well as to prominent news publications such as The Atlantic, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, POLITICO, Reuters, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. His research articles have appeared in a wide variety of academic journals, and he co-edits the “Oxford Studies in Migration and Citizenship” book series for Oxford University Press. From 2010 to 2014, Professor Gest was a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer in the Departments of Government and Sociology at Harvard University.
In recognition of his teaching excellence, he received Harvard University’s Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize in 2014 and George Mason University’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2020 — each university’s highest honor for faculty teaching. In 2013, he was also awarded the Star Family Prize for Student Advising, Harvard’s highest award for student advising. Between 2007 and 2010, he co-founded and directed the migration studies program at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
For more information, visit justingest.com.
An award-winning author and commentator, Justin Gest’s work combines serious analysis with clear prose and rich, humanizing detail to illuminate the population dynamics that will drive politics, business, and social relations for years to come. His 2016 book, The New Minority, presaged the power of white working class voters to disrupt US elections. His 2018 book, Crossroads, foresaw the “uberization” of global migration, and his 2022 book, Majority Minority, anticipated the challenges faced today by diverse democracies.
His latest book, Democratic Drain, focuses on the unintended political consequences of migration. Steven Levitsky, the David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard University, calls it “an important read for anyone interested in democratic backsliding-and how to reverse it.” With novel ideas and thought-provoking insights, Gest inspires audiences to think hard about how to discern new social, demographic, and political trends and how to prepare for an era of fast-moving change.
“Justin Gest’s Majority Minority is a treasure trove of analysis, information, data and, most importantly, a thoughtful conclusion based on solid research. Gest addresses what has become a central dilemma in the nation’s politics: how can white Americans come to terms with the loss of majority status? Majority Minority could not be more relevant.”
—Thomas B. Edsall, The New York Times
He is a Professor of Policy and Government at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. A columnist for Newsweek, he also provides commentary and reporting to several broadcast networks, including ABC, BBC, CBC, CNN, and NPR, as well as to prominent news publications such as The Atlantic, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, POLITICO, Reuters, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. His research articles have appeared in a wide variety of academic journals, and he co-edits the “Oxford Studies in Migration and Citizenship” book series for Oxford University Press. From 2010 to 2014, Professor Gest was a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer in the Departments of Government and Sociology at Harvard University.
In recognition of his teaching excellence, he received Harvard University’s Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize in 2014 and George Mason University’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2020 — each university’s highest honor for faculty teaching. In 2013, he was also awarded the Star Family Prize for Student Advising, Harvard’s highest award for student advising. Between 2007 and 2010, he co-founded and directed the migration studies program at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
For more information, visit justingest.com.
The Key Dynamics of Late-Stage Globalization
For the past 30 years, we have been in a moment of great geopolitical uncertainty and change, as all international relations have been questioned and tested. The world is still sorting through what it means to be globally interconnected —trying to control what facets of daily life succumb to the liberal flow of foreign ideas, money, products, and most significantly, people. How can we understand this period in order to make better decisions about the future? At play are some of the greatest themes of our era: “winner take all” capitalism, nostalgia, and fundamental questions about the role of government in the face of forces beyond local control.
What is America Now?
Since Alexis de Tocqueville, observers have sought to understand America and found it to be a moving target. With its people’s restless appetite for freedom and extraordinary diversity of international origins and values, America sends mixed signals that confound long standing partners and even its own citizens. The result is a paradoxical sense of mystery and familiarity that the country has leveraged to its geopolitical advantage, positioning itself as a benevolent empire. As the country enters its most nationalistic period in a century, what does this mean for the image of America in the world? And what are the implications for the businesses, nonprofits, and institutions that have long benefited from America’s status as a “tabula rasa” — an object onto which others project their own desires?
The Demographic Trends That Will Shape The World
Charles Darwin admonished that “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” But without a clear understanding of the change at hand, we cannot anticipate, let alone respond. Three great population trends are transforming our markets and politics today: Thanks to declining fertility rates and the spread of advanced medicine, all societies are aging and some are even shrinking. Revolutions in transportation and communication technology have allowed more people to move away from their countries of origin, despite greater state capacity to control borders. And as a product of the first two trends, societies are more diverse than they have ever been before. With these trends unlikely to abate anytime soon, this absorbing talk explores what it could mean for our future.
The Story of How Societies Respond to Great Demographic Change
“All great changes are preceded by chaos,” warns Deepak Chopra. Much of the social division we are experiencing today is related to our impending “majority minority” demographic milestone. On the one hand, such change can be terribly disorienting and destabilizing. On the other hand, it also provides a critical opportunity to rethink and reconsolidate a society, a market, or an organization. By reviewing the stories of the few societies that have already navigated this milestone — places like Singapore, Trinidad, and Hawai’i — we can better prepare and adapt to the one we will soon face.
How to Promote Pluralism in a Diversifying Democracy
As Barbara Kingsolver once remarked, “The changes we dread most may contain our salvation.” Pluralism asks that we not only coexist people of diverse cultures and worldviews, but that we also cooperate with them. Pluralism is essential for the United States and Canada to fulfill their promise as multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-factional democracies, but the idea has been tested by changing demographics and the sorting of demographic and ideological groups into increasingly distinct and identity-aligned political parties. Social scientists and strategists have designed several new interventions to address these challenges. This talk will explore what works, what doesn’t and what we can do to promote pluralism to create a healthier society.
- Majority Minority (Oxford University Press, 2022)
Selected Articles
One reason US democracy is in trouble? Its supporters are moving elsewhere, The Guardian
Excerpt from Democratic Drain, Foreign Affairs
- 2023 Beck Family Presidential Medal for Faculty Research, George Mason University
- 2020 Award for Teaching Excellence, George Mason University
- 2019 BISA Book Prize for the International Politics of Migration, Refugees and Diaspora Working Group, British International Studies Association, Crossing Borders
- 2014 Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize, Harvard University
- 2013 Star Family Award for Student Advising, Harvard University
Trenchant and groundbreaking work.
Gest practices what he preaches…Too many brilliant ideas and insights are trapped in the weeds of expert jargon. Gest shows you the path out of the jungle and into the light.
Justin Gest brings to his craft a rare combination of scientific rigor and journalistic storytelling.
- READ: Review of Democratic Drain, The Dispatch
- READ: When emigration helps bad rulers survive, The Economist
- READ: Migrants are Heading South, The Atlantic
- READ: The great American demographic shift, McKinsey & Company
- READ: How Social Media 2.0 Can Create a Marketplace for the Truth, Newsweek
- LISTEN: America’s ‘Majority Minority’ Demographic Future, WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show
- LISTEN: America is Hopelessly Diverse—In the Best Way Possible, The Context
BOOKS
Democratic Drain: Global Migration and the Struggle for Democracy
Democratic Drain is well written, provocative, and eminently readable . . . This book may come to be the most influential on the intersection of migration and democracy.
Susan Martin, Donald G. Herzberg Professor Emerita of International Migration, Georgetown University
Majority Minority
Mass Appeal: Communicating Policy Ideas in Multiple Media
Crossroads
The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration and Inequality
Apart: Alienated and Engaged Muslims in the West
Videos
Similar Speakers
Rana Foroohar
Evan Osnos