Somewhat repetitive, but with useful lessons on cultural accommodation and coexistence.
An anthropologist examines ways in which ingrained notions of belonging and difference can be put to work for the good.
The notion that humans are by nature tribal beings fell into some disrepute after World War II, before which it was common to essentialize: Germans are naturally warlike, Americans naturally forward-looking. “These approaches reduced cultures to stable patterns,” writes Morris, but cultures are instead in constant change, especially with globalization. So to with tribes—around the world, a sort of default form of social organization, bound by associations of families and clans into larger but still manageable polities. “In these nested groups our forebears first felt the exciting and empowering experience of connection to myriad individuals and ideas, the ongoing experiment that we call ‘society,’” Morris writes. Some of those ideas yield “in-group” pressures to conform, while others help create traditions, formal or informal, that are often quite revealing. In this last regard, it’s interesting to learn that sales of macaroni and cheese skyrocketed after 9/11, a reversion to comfort food in the wake of catastrophe. Given that in-group pressures can turn deeply negative in some instances, such as the current anti-immigration impulse sweeping the U.S. and Europe and indeed the inability of “red” and “blue” constituents to talk with each other, Morris counsels seeking ways to make room for other tribes, altering, as he puts it, a “culture fit” stance to a “culture add” policy. While such talk is sure to rile the anti-DEI crowd, Morris urges readers to remember that, again, cultures evolve to adapt to new situations and can do so positively—as when, in one of his examples, Catalonians figured out a way to incorporate Muslims into a traditional festival that featured local pork sausage by broadening the celebration to include locally made but also halal cheeses.
Somewhat repetitive, but with useful lessons on cultural accommodation and coexistence.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780735218093
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Thesis/Penguin
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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