• Link to LinkedIn
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to X
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
Joel Kotkin
  • About
    • Events
  • Media
    • In the News
    • Videos
  • Books
  • Articles
    • Demographics
    • Urban Affairs
    • The Economy
    • Politics
    • Rural Policy
    • Reports
    • Religion
    • California
  • Podcast
  • Speaking
  • Contact
  • Click to open the search input field Click to open the search input field Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: Home1 / Articles2 / Urban Affairs

Can Social Democracy Save Capitalism – Again?

January 2, 2026/in Politics, The Economy, Urban Affairs

Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration this week as New York City mayor is a moment of reckoning for those who care about preserving the American way of life. As a matter of policy, Mamdani mostly represents a continuation of the lifestyle and identity Leftism of recent decades, rather than a turn to traditional socialism. Yet it’s a telling indicator that his pseudo-socialist message has resonated so deeply with many young New Yorkers, tracking a broader shift toward urban radicalism. Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/President_Lyndon_B._Johnson_Signing_of_the_Immigration_Act_of_1965.jpg 675 1200 Joel Kotkin /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png Joel Kotkin2026-01-02 11:15:162025-12-31 19:15:37Can Social Democracy Save Capitalism – Again?

Equal But Separate

December 17, 2025/in Demographics, Urban Affairs

Even as many scholars and pundits deny the differences between the sexes and vastly expand the concept of gender, society is increasingly dividing along these clear and simple lines. Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/separate-but-equal.jpg 675 1200 Joel Kotkin and Samuel J. Abrams /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png Joel Kotkin and Samuel J. Abrams2025-12-17 11:44:312025-12-17 11:44:48Equal But Separate

New York is Becoming the Next London, Home Only to Immigrants and the Super-rich

December 15, 2025/in Demographics, The Economy, Urban Affairs

The election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York – alongside the victory of similarly hard-Left candidates in other mayoral races – has left some predicting that urban America will inevitably fall into a “doom loop” of decline, with an exodus of the super-rich leaving cities in the control of a resentful lower class. Yet in reality, the socialist takeover will prove no great win for the working class. If anything, it leaves the haute bourgeoisie even more the masters of places like Gotham than before.

Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/NYC-mamdani-aGray.jpg 675 1200 Joel Kotkin /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png Joel Kotkin2025-12-15 07:25:092025-12-14 09:56:56New York is Becoming the Next London, Home Only to Immigrants and the Super-rich

An Anti-woke Counter-revolution is Sweeping Through the Media

December 1, 2025/in Politics, Urban Affairs

The purchase of Paramount and CBS by David Ellison – scion of Larry Ellison, the world’s third-richest man, with a $250 billion tech fortune – marks a shift away from one-party domination of the media and culture. It follows Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, now X, and the Trumpian capture of Washington DC’s Kennedy Center.

Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/media-counter-revolution.jpg 675 1200 Joel Kotkin /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png Joel Kotkin2025-12-01 07:25:402025-11-30 09:54:54An Anti-woke Counter-revolution is Sweeping Through the Media

The Spectre of Communism Haunts the West — Mamdani is Only the Beginning

November 20, 2025/in Demographics, Politics, The Economy, Urban Affairs

The surprisingly easy election of the Marxist Zohran Mamdani represents a critical turning point, not only for my hometown of New York, but for all the West. Mamdani’s election as mayor represents the prospect of a rising socialist mindset, particularly among the young.

Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Zohran_Mamdani_at_Rally_in_Bryant_Park.jpg 675 1200 JK-admin /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png JK-admin2025-11-20 07:25:472025-11-19 07:58:02The Spectre of Communism Haunts the West — Mamdani is Only the Beginning

The Rise of Latino America

November 13, 2025/in Urban Affairs

In a recent focus group we held with 11 U.S. and foreign-born Latinos in Riverside, California, most of the participants expressed grave concerns about the breakup of hard-working and law-abiding families in what one participant called ICE’s “war” against Latinos. And yet, when asked if they were optimistic about the future, all 11 enthusiastically said “yes.”

Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/rise-of-latino-america-report-e1762986477227.jpg 675 1200 Joel Kotkin /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png Joel Kotkin2025-11-13 07:25:252025-11-12 14:28:29The Rise of Latino America

California was an ‘Earthly Paradise’ for Jews. Is it still?

November 11, 2025/in California, Religion, Urban Affairs

California, described by one observer in the late 19th century as “the Jews’ earthly paradise” for the economic and social promise it held, seems to have become newly hostile to Jewish people in recent years. Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/LAPD-Los-Angeles-Venice-Santa-Monica.jpg 675 1200 Joel Kotkin /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png Joel Kotkin2025-11-11 07:25:532025-11-10 09:44:11California was an ‘Earthly Paradise’ for Jews. Is it still?

Mamdani Heralds the Radical American City

November 8, 2025/in Politics, The Economy, Urban Affairs

The greatest threat to the United States is self-created and centered in urban areas. Having survived the pandemic and the 2020 “summer of love”, America’s cities — most critically, New York — are adopting politics that seem designed to make the much-feared “urban doom loop” a reality.

Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/is-there-a-viable-urban-future.jpg 675 1200 Joel Kotkin /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png Joel Kotkin2025-11-08 07:25:092025-11-05 09:13:21Mamdani Heralds the Radical American City

New York’s Jews Fear a Mamdani Win

November 3, 2025/in Demographics, Politics, Urban Affairs

For generations, the Harmonie Club has served as a haven for New York’s Jewish elites. Founded in 1852, the club has since 1905 occupied an elegant eight-story building at 4 East 60th Street, a townhouse with lovely painted ceilings and a handsome Victorian facade designed by Stanford White. Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/nyc-synagoge-jewish-community.jpg 675 1200 Joel Kotkin /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png Joel Kotkin2025-11-03 07:25:482025-11-02 07:41:02New York’s Jews Fear a Mamdani Win

The Rise of the Artisan Economy

November 1, 2025/in The Economy, Urban Affairs

Developer Shaheen Sadeghi’s vision of an artisanal, small-business-driven economy seems oddly incompatible with his environment. After all, Orange County, Calif., where the 71-year-old Sadeghi has worked for four decades, bristles with mass-produced fabrication. Home to several of the nation’s most successful malls and endless shopping centers, the region has incubated such firms as McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, Cheesecake Factory, Marie Callender’s, Taco Bell, and the epicenter of faux American conformism, Disneyland.

Read more

https://joelkotkin.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/The-Camp.jpg 675 1200 Joel Kotkin /wp-content/uploads/2017/01/jkotkin_logo.png Joel Kotkin2025-11-01 07:25:432025-10-29 16:02:58The Rise of the Artisan Economy
Page 3 of 50‹12345›»
Search Search

Subscribe to Feed

Subscribe to RSS   follow us in feedly

Recent Articles

  • Science and Religion: The New Nexus
  • California is Aging Fast and Socialism Won’t Make Us Younger
  • How Socialism Captured the West Coast
  • Is Gavin Newsom’s White House Dream Fading?
  • AI and the Future of Work

Joel has spoken at many leading universities, business groups, government organizations and more.

INVITE JOEL TO SPEAK

STAY CONNECTED

Join the conversation at Twitter
or Facebook. Visit our YouTube
channel or subscribe to RSS
to read our latest articles.

      Subscribe to RSS  follow us in feedly

Recent Articles

  • Demographics show that California's aging significantly
    California is Aging Fast and Socialism Won’t Make Us YoungerJuly 20, 2026 - 11:36 am
  • View across a bridge towards downtown San Francisco at night.
    How Socialism Captured the West CoastJuly 17, 2026 - 11:25 am
  • The field for California's next governor is uninspiring so far.
    Is Gavin Newsom’s White House Dream Fading?July 15, 2026 - 11:40 am
  • California now has blue state competition for tech jobs
    Can Los Angeles Be Saved?July 8, 2026 - 11:40 am

Topics

  • Books
  • California
  • Demographics
  • In the News
  • Podcast
  • Politics
  • Religion
  • Reports
  • Rural Policy
  • The Economy
  • Urban Affairs
© Copyright – Joel Kotkin | Site Admin
  • About
  • Media
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Podcast
  • Speaking
  • Contact
Scroll to top Scroll to top Scroll to top