The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt

Now they have expanded their article into a longer, and worse, book that aims to diagnose the safetyism ills of our entire culture, not just universities. Their thesis was simple: “A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense.” As I wrote: “Unfortunately, their thesis is dead wrong: they completely misdiagnose the problem on campus, blaming a massive generational psychological shift for censorship on campus, instead of the real cause: a political problem of powerful administrative structures promoting repression at colleges.” Although I agree with many things they write, and share their general outlook in opposition to safetyism (protecting people from any possible harms, including offensive ideas) and in favor of free speech, I want to focus on my disagreements because dissent is more interesting and more important.īack in 2015, I criticized the Atlantic article Haidt and Lukianoff wrote that this book is based on. This is not one of those laudatory reviews.

Haidt and Lukianoff’s best-selling book has received laudatory reviews from many places. The Afterword: Part 1 (Jon and Greg's update to the book in 2021)Ĭatching up with 'Coddling' Part one (a blog series by Greg in 2021, updating the trends discussed in the book.Jonathan Haidt, a professor of psychology at New York University, and Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), have written a new book, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.Ĭhapter 1, on antifragility (useful for discussions of growth during the coronavirus crisis)

They situate the conflicts on campus within the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization and dysfunction. They examine changes on campus, including the corporatization of universities and the emergence of new ideas about identity and justice. They explore changes in childhood such as the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised, child-directed play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade.

Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to promote the spread of these untruths.

The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt