Justin Gest on Minority Political Behavior

Dr. Justin Gest, assistant professor and expert in minority political behavior, embodies the Schar School’s commitment to the pursuit of academic research directly relevant to the world’s policymakers. Two of his most recent publications illustrate well how our faculty have a foot in the realms of theory and practice.

His latest book, Silent Citizenship: The Politics of Marginality in Unequal Democracies, explores theoretical and empirical approaches to citizens who are disconnected from democratic politics. Published by Routledge and co-edited with Sean Gray from Harvard University, the book examines those who do not debate, deliberate, or take action in North America and Europe and the implications of their exclusion on democratic politics.

Gest also regularly publishes for a practitioner audience, most recently in the April 2017 issue of The American ProspectCan the Democratic Party be White Working Class, Too? He investigates how Montana’s Democratic governor can be re-elected in the same state that rejected the Democratic presidential candidate by a wide margin. 

“Do Montana Democrats have a template that can be applied elsewhere?” asks Gest. “Integrating Montana’s template into Democratic success will entail integrating Montana’s constituents—white, working-class, often rural voters who, despite their cultural differences, face many of the same frustrations with debt, health care, and labor as other working-class people in the Democratic coalition.”

This work builds off the research from Gest’s other recent book, The New Minority: White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration and Inequality (Oxford University Press 2016).

Read more about Gest’s research at gest.gmu.edu.