Barack Obama’s ‘favourite political thinker’ joins us to discuss the origins, consequences and limitations of what he terms ‘identity synthesis’.

In The Identity Trap, Yascha Mounk argues that what started as an appreciation of the culture and heritage of minorities marginalised by society, has transformed into an obsession with group identity in all its forms, putting it at the heart of social, cultural and political life. Tracing the intellectual origin of these ideas, the John Hopkins professor and The Great Experiment author seeks to understand the impact of the ideas that rightly or wrongly constitute ‘identity politics’, in conversation with The Jewish Chronicle editor, Jake Wallis Simons.

An event from Jewish Book Week 2024