Eric Kaufmann
Eric Peter Kaufmann (born 11 May 1970) is a Canadian political scientist specializing in nationalism, ethnic politics, immigration, populism, and cultural change.[1][2] Born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver, he holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario and advanced degrees from the London School of Economics.[3][4] Kaufmann serves as Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham, where he directs the Centre for Heterodox Social Science, and is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.[5][6] Previously at Birkbeck College, University of London, his research employs demographic data and historical patterns to analyze identity formation and societal shifts, often challenging dominant academic assumptions about multiculturalism and secular decline.[7] His key publications include Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the Future of White Majorities (2018), which uses empirical evidence to explore white ethnic responses to rapid demographic transformation, and The Third Awokening: A 12-Point Plan for Rolling Back Progressive Excess (2024), critiquing the institutional entrenchment of left-wing cultural orthodoxy.[2][6] Kaufmann's arguments, emphasizing causal mechanisms in cultural evolution over ideological priors, have garnered both acclaim for intellectual rigor and controversy for confronting taboos on group interests and ideological capture in elite institutions.[8][9]Early Life and Education
Upbringing and Family Background
Eric Kaufmann was born in Hong Kong to a father of Czech-Jewish descent, with his paternal grandfather hailing from Prostějov in what is now the Czech Republic, and a mother described as a lapsed Catholic.[1][10] His mixed ancestry includes one-quarter Chinese and one-quarter Latino heritage, reflecting a diverse familial background that spans multiple continents and ethnicities.[1][10] Kaufmann spent his early childhood primarily in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he was raised, but frequently traveled between Canada and Japan due to his father's diplomatic work.[11][12] This peripatetic lifestyle, involving immersion in both North American and East Asian environments over several years—including an extended period in Tokyo—exposed him to stark cultural contrasts from a young age.[13][11] The experience of navigating these disparate settings during his formative years fostered Kaufmann's enduring interest in identity formation, ethnic boundaries, and the psychological impacts of multiculturalism, themes that would later permeate his academic research.[11][12]Academic Training and Early Influences
Kaufmann completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada, from September 1988 to April 1991.[3] Following a period in Canada, he pursued graduate studies in the United Kingdom, earning a Master of Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) between September 1993 and September 1994.[3][5] He continued at LSE for his Doctor of Philosophy, awarded in November 1998 after commencing in September 1994, with his doctoral research focusing on political and sociological dimensions of ethnic and national identity, laying the groundwork for his later work in political demography.[3][8] LSE's interdisciplinary environment in political science and sociology during the 1990s, emphasizing empirical analysis of institutions and identities, shaped Kaufmann's methodological approach, which integrates quantitative demographic data with qualitative historical case studies.[5] While specific doctoral supervisors are not publicly detailed in available records, his training at LSE exposed him to rigorous social scientific traditions that prioritized causal mechanisms in cultural and political change over ideological priors.[3] Early academic influences appear rooted in Kaufmann's transition from Canadian undergraduate education to the analytically oriented graduate programs at LSE, where he developed an interest in secularization, ethnic persistence, and the interplay of religion and politics—themes central to his subsequent publications.[14] This period marked his shift toward heterodox inquiries into demographic trends and cultural sacralization, diverging from prevailing progressive orthodoxies in academia by privileging data-driven critiques of multiculturalism and identity politics.[5]Academic Career
Initial Appointments and Research Roles
Kaufmann's initial academic appointment following his PhD from the London School of Economics was as Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the University of Southampton, a position he held from February 1999 to September 2003.[3][5] In this role, he taught courses in comparative politics and contributed to departmental research on political institutions and ethnic dynamics, laying the groundwork for his later work in political demography.[15] In October 2003, Kaufmann transitioned to Birkbeck College, University of London, as Lecturer in Politics and Sociology, serving in that capacity until his promotion to Reader in 2010.[5][15] During his early years at Birkbeck, he expanded his research portfolio to include analyses of multiculturalism, ethnic identity, and demographic shifts, producing peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on topics such as the political implications of religious and ethnic diversity in Western societies.[16] Concurrently with these lecturing positions, Kaufmann held research fellowships that supported his independent scholarly work, including a fellowship at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, where he focused on international security and ethnic conflict.[14] These early roles enabled him to publish foundational studies, such as examinations of nationalism and population politics, establishing his expertise in heterodox approaches to cultural and demographic change.[16]Senior Positions and Institutional Affiliations
Kaufmann held the position of Professor of Politics at Birkbeck, University of London, from 2011 until his resignation in October 2023, after previously serving as a lecturer there from 2003 to 2010.[5][17] During the 2008–2009 academic year, he was a fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.[6] In October 2023, Kaufmann was appointed Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham, a role he continues to hold as of 2025.[5][2] He is also an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank focused on policy research.[6] Additionally, Kaufmann serves as an editor of the academic journal Nations and Nationalism, published by Wiley on behalf of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism.[18] Kaufmann maintains affiliations with organizations promoting viewpoint diversity in academia, including Heterodox Academy, where he contributes as a scholar critiquing institutional biases.[19] He is also listed as an expert at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a Canadian think tank emphasizing evidence-based policy analysis.[20]Founding of the Centre for Heterodox Social Science
In October 2023, Eric Kaufmann departed from his position as Professor of Politics at Birkbeck, University of London, citing an increasingly monolithic ideological environment that stifled open inquiry in social sciences.[17] He accepted an appointment as Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham, a private institution known for its emphasis on free-market principles and academic freedom, where he simultaneously founded the Centre for Heterodox Social Science.[5] [21] The centre's establishment reflected Kaufmann's aim to create a space for research diverging from prevailing progressive orthodoxies in academia, particularly on topics like cultural sacralization, identity politics, and demographic change.[17] The Centre for Heterodox Social Science was officially launched on February 22, 2024, under Kaufmann's directorship.[22] Its mission centers on advancing "countercultural social science" that prioritizes empirical rigor and viewpoint diversity over conformity to dominant institutional narratives, fostering debate on contentious issues such as ideological bias in higher education and the cultural dynamics of wokeness.[17] [23] Kaufmann, drawing from his expertise in political demography and critiques of left-wing hegemony, positioned the centre as a bulwark against what he describes as a "60-year progressive era" dominating social scientific discourse.[24] Activities of the centre include hosting seminars, publishing research through affiliated platforms like Kaufmann's Substack newsletter, and developing online courses on topics such as the origins of elite ideologies.[23] By emphasizing heterodox approaches—defined as those challenging uncritical acceptance of sacralized cultural norms—the initiative seeks to counteract systemic biases in mainstream academia, where Kaufmann argues empirical evidence on issues like population decline and immigration impacts is often sidelined.[17] [9]Core Research Areas
Political Demography and Population Dynamics
Kaufmann's work in political demography emphasizes the interplay between population shifts and political outcomes, particularly how migration, fertility differentials, and ethnic composition changes drive electoral realignments and policy debates. In the 2012 edited volume Political Demography: How Population Changes Are Reshaping International Security and National Politics, co-edited with Jack A. Goldstone and Monica Duffy Toft, he analyzes how demographic imbalances—such as youth bulges in developing regions or aging populations in the West—exacerbate interstate tensions and intrastate conflicts.[25] [26] He posits that uneven transitions, where certain ethnic or religious groups outpace others in growth, alter relative power balances, often fueling nationalism or instability, as seen in cases like post-colonial state formations or migration pressures on Europe.[27] Central to Kaufmann's analysis is the role of immigration-driven ethnic change in Western politics, detailed in his 2019 book Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration, and the Future of White Majorities.[28] He argues that sustained high immigration combined with sub-replacement fertility among native-born populations—typically below 1.5 children per woman in Europe and North America—has reduced white majority shares, from around 80 percent in the U.S. in 1990 to projected mid-40s by mid-century, triggering backlash politics.[29] [30] This demographic pressure, rather than economic grievance alone, underpins the surge in restrictionist populism, with voting data showing native-born whites without college degrees most sensitive to local ethnic density increases.[29] Kaufmann outlines four adaptive strategies among white majorities facing minority status: "fight" through demands for immigration curbs, "repress" by elites stifling discourse on change, "flight" via residential segregation into whiter enclaves, and "join" by embracing a syncretic, mixed-race national identity over time.[31] Long-term projections in Whiteshift forecast unmixed whites comprising just 40 percent in the United Kingdom and 20 percent in Canada by 2100, with mixed-ancestry groups dominating due to intermarriage rates rising above 10 percent annually in urban areas.[32] He advocates channeling these anxieties into moderate identity expressions, warning that denial risks entrenching extremism, supported by historical parallels like Anglo-American assimilation waves.[33]Religious Demography and Fertility Differentials
Kaufmann's research on religious demography identifies stark fertility differentials between religious and secular populations as a primary driver of future population dynamics. Religious groups, particularly fundamentalists, consistently exhibit total fertility rates (TFR) above the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, while secular TFRs in developed societies hover below 1.7, the lowest in recorded history.[34][35] These patterns hold across faiths and regions, with higher religiosity correlating positively with fertility, independent of socioeconomic factors like education or income.[36] Kaufmann argues that such differentials, sustained by cultural norms emphasizing pro-natalism and family, will lead to the relative growth of religious populations, countering the secularization thesis that predicted religion's inevitable decline through cultural diffusion alone.[37] In the United States, General Social Survey data from 2000-2006 illustrate these gaps, with religious subgroups surpassing the national average TFR of 2.08:| Religious Group | TFR |
|---|---|
| Muslims | 2.84 |
| Hispanic Catholics | 2.75 |
| Black Protestants | 2.35 |
| Fundamentalist Protestants (non-Black) | 2.13 |
| Non-Hispanic Catholics | 2.11 |
| No Religion | 1.66 |
| Jews | 1.43 |