Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration, and the Future of White Majorities

The "white" ethnic identity has taking in a collection of various cultures and adopted its own unique entity. However, the elite culture treats this identity as a punching bag. If they seek to defend their culture they are racist. The white male is treated as the demon and the source of all oppression, even though those advocating the white culture typically includes many that were oppressed by others in their history.

This long-winded book traces the rise of populist movements through many statistics and anecdotes. Support for a white identity is not socially acceptable, yet it is commonly held. Once people feel it is acceptable, they are more willing to show their support. Thus nationalist parties have gone from a small toehold to a large vote counts. The rise of Trump has also shown a similar pattern.

The death of "whiteness" is also exaggerated. Whiteness is an arbitrary identity without a strong genetic or cultural base. One identical twin could choose to be white, while the other identifies as mixed race. (The book gave an example of a significant increase in those with "native american" ancestry that could be explained primarily by self identification.)  Newer immigrants do tend to have larger families. However, their children quickly revert to lower levels. It is actually white groups that tend to have the largest families through generations. (Amish, Jews, Mormons). 

The author suggests that we should encourage whites to express their identity. We should also acknowledge there has been oppression in various white cultures. The "white" identity is a conservative identity that differs significantly from the cosmopolitan elite identity. The Nascar and country music identity of rural whites would be similar to other ethnic identities (like Japanese). When people feel that they cannot defend their identity, they end up using proxy approaches that have numerous negative externalities. Immigration policy can also be set up in a way that gives additional points to those that are most likely to integrate into society. This can help call of the requests for outright bans and instead give head to concerns.