This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Aaa098 (talk | contribs) at 23:23, 19 January 2020. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 23:23, 19 January 2020 by Aaa098 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
 | |
| Authors | Greg Lukianoff Jonathan Haidt |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Jonathan Haidt |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Psychology |
| Publisher | Penguin Books |
| Publication date | September 4, 2018 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | 978-0735224896 |
| Website | www |
The Coddling of the American Mind is a 2018 book by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, in which the authors argue that overprotection is having a negative effect on university students and that the use of trigger warnings and safe spaces does more harm than good. It is an expansion of a popular essay the two wrote for The Atlantic in 2015.
Overview
Lukianoff and Haidt argue that many problems on campus have their origins in three "great untruths" that have become prominent in education: "What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker"; "always trust your feelings"; and "life is a battle between good people and evil people". The authors state that these three "great untruths" contradict modern psychology and ancient wisdom from many cultures.
The book goes on to discuss microaggressions, identity politics, safetyism, call-out culture and intersectionality. The authors define safetyism as a culture or belief system in which safety (which includes "emotional safety") has become a sacred value, which means that people become unwilling to make trade-offs demanded by other practical and moral concerns. They argue that embracing the culture of safetyism has interfered with young people’s social, emotional, and intellectual development.
Continuing on to discuss contemporary partisanship or the "rising political polarization and cross party animosity". They state that the left and right are "locked into a game of mutual provocation and reciprocal outrage".
The authors call on university and college administrators to identify with freedom of inquiry by endorsing the Chicago principles on free speech through which university and colleges notify students in advance that they do not support the use of trigger warnings or safe spaces. They suggest specific programs, such as LetGrow, Lenore Skenazy's Free Range Kids, teaching children mindfulness and the basics of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). They encourage a charitable approach to the interpretations of other peoples' statements instead of assuming they meant offense.
In their conclusion, the authors write that there will be positive changes in the near future as small groups of universities "develop a different sort of academic culture—one that finds ways to make students from all identity groups feel welcome without using the divisive methods." They say that "market forces will take care of the rest" as "applications and enrollment" surge at these schools.
Concepts introduced
Safetyism
The authors cite the work on intergenerational differences by Jean Twenge, who says that the generation that came after the Millennials or Generation Y, which Twenge calls Generation 'iGen'—more widely known as Generation Z—are "suffering a mental health crisis because of smartphone addiction and the paranoid parenting style of the upper middle class." The authors use of the concept antifragility in Chapter 1, was inspired by Nassim Taleb's 2012 book, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder.
The phenomenon of children spending too much time doing homework and not enough time in free play with other children, is introduced in Chapter 9, "The Decline of Play". If people do not adequately develop "skills of cooperation and dispute resolution" in free play situations they will lack skills in the 'art of association' "upon which democracies depend." The authors conclude that these people will more likely call on authorities to settle everyday conflicts instead of dealing with them directly, which extends the use of the bureaucracy of safetyism.
They trace how "bad intellectual habits" were encouraged by campus bureaucracies for many years through overreaction and overregulation.
Common humanity identity politics
The authors distinguished between subtypes of identity politics—common humanity and common enemy identity politics.
Common humanity identity politics is a "more positive and loving approach" such as that used in the United States by Martin Luther King and in South Africa by Nelson Mandela following his release from prison. The approach to the more inclusive, non zero-sum common humanity identity politics, is one in which the circle drawn "around the relevant community" says 'we're all Americans', "we're all British', 'we're all human beings'. Common humanity identity politics says, "we have differences in our community and we need a political process to adjudicate them, but it can be done in the spirit of 'we're all in this together'.
Haidt said that the common enemy identity politics, in the United States and the United Kingdom, is based on binary thinking, and results in the zero-sum us versus them in which polarized groups fight for a slice of the pie. He says that this subtype of identity politics within communities, universities, and groups "leads to intractable conflicts." They include intersectional identity politics as part of this subgroup. The authors say that the problem is with this "subtype or the flavour of identity politics".
Release
The book reached number eight on The New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction best-sellers list. It spent four weeks on the list.
Reception
Edward Luce of the Financial Times praised the book, saying the authors "do a great job of showing how 'safetyism' is cramping young minds."
Writing for The New York Times, Thomas Chatterton Williams praised the book's explanations and analysis of recent college campus trends as "compelling".
Writing for The Washington Post, Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University, gave the book a mixed review, questioning the book's assertion that students today are "disempowered because they’ve been convinced they are fragile". Roth however said that the authors' "insights on the dangers of creating habits of "moral dependency" are timely and important".
Moira Weigel, writing for The Guardian, says that Lukianoff and Haidt, who live in safe spaces of Ted Talks and think tanks, where they are "genteel crusaders" against political correctness, and who have not experienced "discrimination and domination" themselves, "insist that the crises moving young people to action are all in their heads". The authors say that the students suffer from pathological cognitive distortions that fuel their activism and can be corrected by using self-help methods the authors provide based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). She says that the authors have created their own speech codes, which includes the cant of progress.
Conor Friedersdorf, writing in The Atlantic, gave the book a positive review. He also critiqued Weigel's review, stating that Weigel herself admits that the book has merits but that Weigel is nevertheless more concerned with speculating upon Lukianoff's and Haidt's psychological motivations rather than seriously engaging with the book's arguments.
See also
References
- ^ Weigel, Moira (20 September 2018). "The Coddling of the American Mind review – how elite US liberals have turned rightwards". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- ^ Greg Lukianoff; Jonathan Haidt (2018). The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-7352-2489-6.
- Kingkade, Tyler (15 May 2015). "Purdue Takes A Stand For Free Speech, No Matter How Offensive Or Unwise". Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
theguardian_Weigel_201809202was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2012). Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. Random House. ISBN 0679645276.
- Cite error: The named reference
Lukianoff_Haidt_Coddling_20183was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Cite error: The named reference
Lukianoff_Haidt_Coddling_20182was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Taylor, Matthew. "Identity politics, social media, and tribalism: an interview with Jonathan Haidt" (Interview). Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).
{{cite interview}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - Shield, James (7 December 2018). "Identity politics, social media, and tribalism: an interview with Jonathan Haidt". Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- Iyengar, Shanto; Westwood, Sean (2014). "Fear and Loathing Across Party Lines: New Evidence on Group Polarization". American Journal of Political Science. 59 (3): 690–707. doi:10.1111/ajps.12152.
- Cite error: The named reference
RSA_Taylor_201812272was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - "Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers". The New York Times. 23 September 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- "Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers". The New York Times. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- Luce, Edward. "Subscribe to read". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
{{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help) - Williams, Thomas Chatterton (27 August 2018). "Does Our Cultural Obsession With Safety Spell the Downfall of Democracy?". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- Roth, Michael S. (7 September 2018). "Have parents made their kids too fragile for the rough-and-tumble of life?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- Friedersdorf, Conor (16 October 2018). "The Idioms of Non-Argument". The Atlantic. Retrieved 22 September 2019.