Book Announcement: Those People

Increased stratification and declining social mobility. A crisis of expertise. The rise of “populist” leaders. Heightened tensions around “identity politics.” Growing affective polarization. Political dealignments and realignments. These are not separate phenomena, they’re fronts in a broader struggle over which communities, stakeholders, lines of work, lifestyles and cultures are valued in contemporary society – and which seem destined for the dust heap of history.

This is the argument of my second book, Those People, now officially under contract with Princeton University Press, slated for publication in late 2026.

I’ve immensely enjoyed working with PUP over the last four years (since We Have Never Been Woke was first put under contract). To my mind, no one does the crossover (academic + trade) book better than Princeton University Press. The whole team is really fantastic – from the editorial side to the marketing side and beyond. Thanks to their efforts, We Have Never Been Woke has been a major critical and commercial success. I’m eager to see what we can cook up together the second time around.

A big thanks to my literary agent, Andrew Stuart, who negotiated the deal. Credit to PUP editors Eric Crahan (who got the dialogue rolling on the second project and shepherded We Have Never Been Woke across the finish line), and Rachael Levay (who will oversee the development and publication of Those People and took the lead in ironing out an agreement with Andrew). Additional thanks to the Open Society Foundations, whose generous support will allow me to take a partial sabbatical over the next year to turn around the manuscript with maximum efficiency.

Completing the Picture

In the original proposal for my first book, I planned to spend the first half of the project looking at symbolic capitalists, our history and culture, the communities and institutions we congregate in, and the ways “social justice” discourse get bound up with our bids for power, status, resources and opportunities. In the back half of the book, I planned to turn the analytic lens the other way, from the “winners” in the symbolic economy towards those who perceive themselves to be the “losers.” I wrote the book as originally envisioned, but it was far too long for a single text, clocking in at over 200k words. The book was instead split into two volumes.

The first half was adjusted to stand without the