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The Good Fight

What You Miss About the World If You Only Study Students at Harvard

The Good Fight

Yascha Mounk

News

4.7 • 963 Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2021

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Between 2003 and 2007, 96% of participants in social psychology studies were Westerners, most of them undergraduates at American universities. As a result, much of what psychologists have come to believe about human nature is actually a description of a geographically and historically specific group: people who are western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic ("WEIRD"). Joseph Henrich, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard, has spent his career trying to change the parochial bias of social psychology. If we understand that WEIRD people are closer to the aberration than the norm, he argues, we can better understand the rise of the West, the rapid transformations now taking place from Asia to Africa, and the likely future of societies around the world. In this week’s episode of The Good Fight, Yascha Mounk and Joseph Henrich sit down to discuss the peculiarities of WEIRD people; whether non-western societies are taking on some of the same characteristics as they develop economically; and how new technologies might disrupt traditional bonds between human beings. Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by John T. Williams and Rebecca Rashid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

At Barclays, we're here for every goal.

0:06.4

We're here for the Premier League,

0:09.0

and the Barclays Women's Super League.

0:12.0

We're here for the football chance for giving more girls a chance.

0:18.0

We're here for the grassroots and all the muddy boots. From schools to stadiums, we're here for it all.

0:27.6

Barclays, here for every goal. And the And now the good fight with Yasha Monk.

0:54.8

Hi, my name is Dr Remy Adecoya.

1:00.1

I'm a politics lecturer at the University of York and author of the new book titled by Racial Britain.

1:06.0

I recently wrote an article for persuasion called, Race Isn't Just Black and White.

1:11.0

My article covers some of the themes I covered in the book by Racial Britain and I started out by talking about one of the main

1:17.7

complaints I heard from mixed-race Britons I interviewed for my book And this pertains to the frustrating lack of

1:24.6

control over how they are racially perceived and positioned within society.

1:28.9

So I argue in the piece that mixed-risk people are going to be more assertive now and

1:34.0

Monoracial society is going to have to start learning how to adapt to that.

1:37.9

So irrespective of whether I was speaking to people who were mixed black-white to people who might be of Indian English heritage to people who might be of Pakistani

1:47.7

Lebanese heritage. One of the most common themes which emerge from the discussions I had was that frustrating lack of control.

1:56.0

So essentially they'd be in environment A and people would say, oh, you know, to me I've always seen you as a

2:02.0

Pakistani person for for instance.

2:04.0

And then it'd be in environment B, and someone would tell them, no, actually I don't think you don't strike

2:08.8

me as well as really Pakistani. Actually, I've always seen you as more Lebanese.

2:12.3

And of course, one of the most common stories we often hear about is regarding that black-white experience and how people who are of mixed black and white heritage, a position.

2:22.8

And so I started out talking about how Obama was asked

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