Covering the New Right

Over the past decade, one of the most conspicuous and unexpected developments in U.S. politics has been the rise of the New Right, a loosely connected network of ideas, people, and cultural orientations that has supplanted Reagan-era conservatism as the backbone of right-of-center politics. For this event on the University of Chicago campus, we’re convening scholars, journalists and cultural commentators who have studied the intellectual history of conservatism and documented the New Right’s political and cultural emergence in real time. The goal is to understand what accounts for the rise and spread of this new political formation, where its fault lines and major debates are located, and how it is affecting the economic, cultural, and romantic ideals of a rising generation. We will also be asking our panelists about the distinctive challenges of “covering” a movement that has often defined itself against mainstream institutions, universities, and the media.

Friday, April 17th
The Franke Institute for the Humanities
Regenstein Library, University of Chicago
1100 East 57th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

2:30 - 4 p.m.
Panel 1: The New Right as Intellectual Movement
On postliberalism, national conservatism, and the battle over higher education

Mark Lilla, Columbia University
Laura J. Field, author of Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right
Samuel Goldman, University of Florida
Moderator: Jonny Thakkar, Swarthmore and The Point

4:30 - 6 p.m.
Panel 2: The New Right as Culture
On gender politics, religious revival, and the digital influencer wars

Emma Goldberg, New York Times
Emily Jashinski, UnHerd, After Party (podcast)
Mana Afsari, The Point, Real Clear Politics
Simon van Zuylen Wood, New York
Moderator: Jon Baskin, The Point

Sponsored by the Parrhesia Program for Public Thought and Discourse and The Point.

Founded in 2023, the Public Thinking Program at the University of Chicago brings distinguished writers, critics, and journalists to campus to discuss the challenges of engaging in the public conversation today. Co-organized by The Point and the Parrhesia Program for Public Thought and Discourse, the series seeks to inspire a more thoughtful, self-reflective, and pluralistic public discourse.

Photo credit: , CC BY/Flickr

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