Conversations with Coleman "The Identity Trap" with Yascha Mounk
Oct 7, 2023
Yascha Mounk, political scientist and author, discusses the rise of wokeness, the influence of Foucault, the paradoxical beliefs on gender and race as social constructs, intersectionality and integration, the intellectual history of the right, and the importance of free speech in society.
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Museum Curator's Racial Purity Test
- Mounk tells of a Chinese-American intern accused of cultural appropriation for recreating an Asian artist's self-portrait.
- An Ivy League museum curator applied a racial purity test that invalidated her identity claim.
Vaccine Rollout And Identity Costs
- Mounk criticizes a CDC advisory move in 2021 that prioritized 'essential workers' over age for vaccine rollout.
- He argues the choice risked more deaths and invited politicized, zero-sum competition over access.
Three Traditions Fused Into One
- Mounk traces identity-synthesis to a fusion of postmodernism, postcolonialism, and critical race theory.
- He highlights Foucault's skepticism of grand narratives and diffusion-of-power thesis as foundational.