The Right’s Problematic Quest for an Immigrant-Free, Homogeneous America: New at Reason

The West lost its hankering for homogeneous societies after Nazi philosopher Carl Schmitt had his way in Germany. But now this desire that used to be confined to the alt-right gutter is increasingly surfacing in respectable conservative circles. They consider diversity not America’s strength but its weakness and insist that homogeneous societies are much more attuned to natural human desires. To advance their arguments, they rely on the work of Harvard University’s Robert Putnam of the Bowling Alone fame.

Putnam’s research purportedly shows that diverse societies have less “social trust” than homogeneous ones because their bonds tend to be looser. But Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia points out that Putnam is overselling his work and conservatives are overselling Putnam.

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