Key insights from
Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World
Audio available
13 minute read
Published Sep 11, 2018
What you'll learn
Why are Germans so anal about punctuality or Brazilians more likely than Arabs to be accused of showing too much skin? Cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand believes that culture best explains our divisions and conflicts.
Key insights
- • What you'll learn
- 1 Culture matters, but that’s not helpful information until we understand why it matters.
- 2 We swim through (and rely on) social norms like fish swim through water.
- 3 The patterns of loose and tight cultures persist across the globe and history.
- 4 Both tight and loose cultures carry their own assets and liabilities.
- 5 Cultures tighten and loosen according to the level of historical and ecological threat.
- 6 Culture isn’t destiny: just as culture shapes a group, so the group can shape its culture.
- 7 Nations are loosening rigid social norms regarding family size to deal with overpopulation concerns.
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