Eric Kaufmann: uncertainty

Transcript context

…Martin Gurri has put forward the thesis that, because of the internet, people get a much closer look at their elites, including political elites. They see how crummy they are, and they’re disillusioned. And this turns politics into something negative. Do you agree? I think that television kind of began that, perhaps. I’m not sure the internet really explains that much. I always return to East Asia because you can see where they have the internet and they’ve got a lot of modernity, but I’m not sure that politics has changed anywhere near as much there as it has, say, in the West. Again, the difference, I would say, is around issues of migration and multiculturalism. Similarly, if you look at support for the populist right, those who are heavy internet users or heavy social media users are not more likely to be populist-right voters. So I’m less convinced by the technological arguments. Two questions on your development, also known as the Eric Kaufmann production function. Having lived for eight years in Japan, how has that influenced your research and your subsequent views?…

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