Article Title: Here’s the science behind the Brexit vote and Trump’s rise
Article Summary
This article has been written by Michele Gelfand who is a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland and the author of Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World. This article tries to explain the science behind the Brexit vote and Trump’s rise. It starts by asking what is the essential dividing line between human beings around the world? The answer is that research across hundreds of communities suggests that the fundamental driver of difference is not ideological, financial or geographical – it’s cultural. Behaviour, it turns out, depends a lot on whether the culture in which we live is a “tight” or “loose” one.
Tight cultures have strong norms and little tolerance for deviance, while loose cultures are the opposite.The article provides various examples of tight and loose cultures. It further says that the strength of a culture’s norms isn’t random and explains what affects a culture being tight or loose. Finally the article compares the two and answers the question: Is tight better, then, or loose? The answer is, neither are. Both confer different advantages and liabilities, depending on your vantage point. The conclusion is that tight-loose differences can explain global patterns of conflict, revolution, terrorism and populism. They operate as a universal faultline, causing cultural cohesion to buckle and rifts to open up. As threats arrive, groups tighten. As they subside, groups loosen.
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Words to learn from this Article:
Purport: appear to be or do something, especially falsely.
Deviance: the fact or state of diverging from usual or accepted standards.
Vantage: a place or position affording a good view of something.
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Reading Motivation
- Become addicted to constant change and never-ending self-improvement.
- Change is your friend not your foe; change is a brilliant opportunity to grow.
