Summary of Yascha Mounk's The Great Experiment

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I believe that the best way to avoid dangerous forms of tribalism is to remain resolutely individualistic. I thought that the age of nationalism would eventually give way to an era of cosmopolitanism, in which we cared about those around us rather than those with whom we shared blood.

#2 Our tendency to form groups is what makes us humans, and it is what has enabled us to accomplish some of the greatest things in history. But it is also what has led to the worst chapters in human history.

#3 The study of groups was started by the Polish psychologist Henri Tajfel. He would create groups that were so devoid of meaning that none of their members would favor their own. Then, he would add more features to these groups, observing when they crossed the magical threshold that made their members willing to discriminate against outsiders.

#4 The tendency to form groups and discriminate against out-groups is in all of us. We may think of ourselves as individualists who want to be fair towards everyone, but in reality we are willing to help the underestimators against the overestimators.

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