147 - Yascha Mounk: Liberalism, Identity Politics, and the History of Equality

Yascha Mounk is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Contributing Editor at the Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the host of The Good Fight podcast. Yascha has written five books, the most recent of which is The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time (Penguin, 2023). In this episode, Robinson and Yascha talk about this latest work. They begin by discussing the interrelationship between political theory, political science, and political philosophy before moving on to the role of equality in the politics on the left over the past hundred years. Then they turn to the rise of identity politics, its dangers, and how we can avoid what Yascha refers to as “the identity trap.”

The Identity Trap: https://a.co/d/jh6IZIR

Yascha’s Website: https://www.yaschamounk.com

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:32 Introduction

04:48 Distinguishing Political Theory, Science, and Philosophy

12:02 Why Focus on the Left Rather than the Right?

27:33 The History of Equality on the Left

32:38The Origin of Identity Politics

44:19 Universalism and Cultural Marxism

50:48 How Did Identity Politics Spread So Fast?

58:16 Do Identity Politics Conflict with Psychology?

01:12:00 How Do We Escape Identity Politics?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.