The Coddling of the American Mind
How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
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The Coddling of the American Mind
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Haidt
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Written by:
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Jonathan Haidt
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Greg Lukianoff
About this listen
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Coddling of the America Mind by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, read by Jonathan Haidt.
What doesn't kill you makes you weaker
Always trust your feelings
Life is a battle between good people and evil people
These three Great Untruths contradict basic psychological principles about well-being, as well as ancient wisdom from many cultures. And yet they have become increasingly woven into education, culminating in a stifling culture of "safetyism" that began on American college campuses and is spreading throughout academic institutions in the English-speaking world.
In this book, free speech campaigner Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt investigate six trends that caused the spread of these untruths, from the decline of unsupervised play to the corporatization of universities and the rise of new ideas about identity and justice.
Lukianoff and Haidt argue that well-intended but misguided attempts to protect young people can hamper their development, with devastating consequences for them, for the educational system and for democracy itself.
Critic Reviews
"Excellent...their advice is sound...liberal parents, in particular, should read it" (Edward Luce)
"An important if disturbing book.... Lukianoff and Haidt tell a plausible story" (Niall Ferguson)
"A compelling and timely argument against attitudes and practises that, however well-intended, are damaging our universities, harming our children and leaving an entire generation intellectually and emotionally ill-prepared for an ever-more fraught and complex world. A brave and necessary work." (Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks)
What listeners say about The Coddling of the American Mind
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Aiyvan
- 08-07-22
Told ten people to read the book
Told ten people I care a lot to read this book….that should do it!
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- sandyqbg
- 03-01-23
Right questions but incomplete & biased 'answers'
Jonathan Haidt raises some very important questions regarding the discourse around social justice and outlook of the younger generations, questions that each of one of us need to think deep and hard about - questions around what constitutes free speech, how should differing viewpoints be engaged, what should the role and manifestation of psychological safety be, how should people engage ideas that cause discomfort, etc. Some of the broader generalizations around the untruths that Haidt proposes are also on track and require introspection as a society - ideas around free play, impact of social media, etc. Indeed, some of the research that goes into explaining the underlying drivers of the trends that we see on American college campuses are illuminating and deserves attention.
However, there's also so much that Haidt omits in the book in his attempt to cater to conservative narrative that it comes across as a disingenuous attempt at understanding the coddling of the American mind.
The first problem is that while the title of the book claims to explore the coddling of the American mind, it only delves into a thin slice of the American population. It does not even cover the entirety of young America, rather just the small middle-to-upper class population that manages to get into elite colleges. This is entirely inadequate in diagnosing the malaise that plagues the young generation or understanding the broader strokes of how young America behaves. Young America cannot be equated to the tiny elite America.
The book is also busy taking shots at the "left" that it fails to sufficiently address the psyche of a large portion of young America that does not lean left. Sure, there are a few references to the what the right is doing wrong, but it is merely a sideshow and constructed to feed into the larger narrative of how the left leaning universities have got it all wrong. Exploration of conservative spectrum, which is clearly still a sizeable population in the country, is given only token air time in the book. Additionally, the few high profile events of left leaning students harassing speakers have been highlighted, leaving out growth of the alt-right, the manosphere, the countless actual death threats (and not just calls for resignation) against people that the right disagrees with, etc.
The book also fails to understand the untruths have long plagued American conservative thinking and public discourse - discrimination against racial, gender and immigrant groups are entirely steeped in trusting feelings over facts and building an us versus them mentality. These untruths are so deeply embedded in the public psyche that it's only natural that they manifest themselves among reactions to the current political climate irrespective of age or political leaning. Without a proper analysis of this unconscious bias across the spectrum and how public discourse has been deliberately shaped over the centuries to perpetuate those untruths, Haidt's commentary falls woefully short.
In a nutshell, the book is worth a read for the critical questions it raises and a few broad general observations it makes. However, the text should also be taken with a bag of salt and the reader should apply their own critical thinking and research to get a true understanding of what the title of the book promises to explore.
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