Public policy scholar gives Election-eve lecture on "The New Minority"

Justin Gest, a public policy scholar who spent months studying Youngstown as an example of the loss of political power of white working class America, will discuss his findings and his book, The New Minority: White Working Class Voters in an Age of Immigration and Inequality, at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor the night before the national election.

Doors for the event, which is free and open to the public, open at 6 p.m. for refreshments and the program begins at 6:30 at the Center located at 151 W. Wood Street.

Gest, assistant professor of Public Policy at George Mason University, researched the book as a visiting scholar at YSU’s Center for Working Class Studies and he’s written about the role of the white working class in the election for Politico and Reuters.

The book combines social science research with journalistic interviews and storytelling and features interviews with local residents, current and former political operatives, officials, and labor leaders. The chapter on Youngstown features sections subtitled “Crony Capitalism, Social Insecurity and Balkanization,” and Gest uses his Youngstown scholarship to help argue that white working class Americans now see themselves as a minority.

The event is co-sponsored by YSU’s Center for Working Class Studies and The City Club of The Mahoning Valley. For more information, contact Tim Francisco, director of the CWCS, at 330-402-1769 or tfrancisco@ysu.edu. For more on Gest’s book, visit https://tnm.gmu.edu/ .

Caption: Photo that appears on Gest's latest book.