The Self Is Socially Constructed

Nick Chater and George Loewenstein are behavioral scientists who've spent decades studying decision-making, and their new book is called It's on You: How Corporations and Behavioral Scientists Have Convinced Us That We’re to Blame for Society's Deepest Problems. Nick joins us to explain why blaming individuals for society's problems is not just wrong — it's exactly what powerful interests want us to believe.

And stick around, because later in the show we'll hear from Stanford professor Brian Lowery, whose book Selfless makes a fascinating companion argument: that the whole idea of the independent, self-contained individual might be a myth in the first place.

Sponsored By:

Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily