Majority Minority

How do societies respond to great demographic change? This question lingers over the contemporary politics of the United States and other countries where persistent immigration has altered populations and may soon produce a majority minority milestone. Or where the original ethnic or religious majority loses its numerical advantage to one or more foreign-origin minority groups. Until now, most of our knowledge about large-scale responses to demographic change has been based on studies of individual people’s reactions, which tend to be instinctively defensive and intolerant. We know little about why and how these habits are sometimes tempered to promote more successful coexistence.

Dr. Justin Gest is an Associate Professor of Policy and Government at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. He is the author of six books, primarily on the politics of immigration and demographic change—all from Oxford University Press or Cambridge University Press. Learn more about Dr. Gest below.

We’re delighted for the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future to join organizers The Village Square and streaming partners Common Ground Committee, Civil Squared, Network for Responsible Public Policy,  Citizen Connect, Center for the Humanities at University of Miami, Tallahassee Democrat, and WFSU Public Media. 

Dr. Gest’s research has been published in journals including the British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Comparative Political Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Global Governance, Global Policy, International Migration Review, Migration Studies, Polity, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the editor of Silent Citizenship: The Politics of Marginality in Unequal Democracies (Routledge, 2016), special issues of Citizenship Studies, and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

He has also provided commentary, analysis, or reporting to a number of broadcast networks, including ABC, BBC, CBC, CNN, and NPR, and news publications including The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, POLITICO, Reuters, The Times, Vox, and The Washington Post.

Pick up a copy of “Majority Minority” after it releases on March 22nd and join us on May 19th for an important conversation you won’t soon forget. 

Reviews for Majority Minority:

“Trenchant and groundbreaking work.”
—Molly Ball, National Political Correspondent, TIME Magazine

“The go-to source for understanding how demographic change is impacting American politics.”
—Jonathan Capehart, The Washington Post and MSNBC