The Righteous Mind

Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

By: Jonathan Haidt

Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens?

In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong.

Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right. He blends his own research findings with those of anthropologists, historians, and other psychologists to draw a map of the moral domain, and he explains why conservatives can navigate that map more skillfully than can liberals. He then examines the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures.

But rather than arguing that we are innately altruistic, he makes a more subtle claim - that we are fundamentally groupish. It is our groupishness, he explains, that leads to our greatest joys, our religious divisions, and our political affiliations. In a stunning final chapter on ideology and civility, Haidt shows what each side is right about, and why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2012 Jonathan Haidt (P)2012 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"Haidt is looking for more than victory. He's looking for wisdom. That's what makes The Righteous Mind well worth reading…. a landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself.” ( The New York Times Book Review)

2020 value

perhaps in 2020 more than any other year this book would be valuable for most people if not all To better understand not only themselves but the world we live in.
This is certainly a A book that will go on my shelf to read again and to contemplate and discuss with others

Insightful Listen

Very fascinating and insightful. Would probably have been better to read, but I still got a lot out of it. Due to the topic and dense nature of the book, I had to focus quite a bit on what the author was saying. And I could only listen to an hour max before I started to go blurry-eyed and zone out. All in all, great listen. Highly recommend for anyone interested in psychology, sociology, religion, and politics.

A Must Read

In light of everything going on in our country today, this is a must read for anyone who wants to make sense of it.

MUST READ!

This book helped me understand people with different views than mine. In a world where vilification of the "other side" seems to be the norm, this book steps in to stop the fight. I'll read this many times more and would recommend it to everyone.

Explains so much between left and right

I am libertarian and very scientific at this book explains the basis for my feelings and my fiance's feelings and why they're so different places our view of the world in a very interesting perspective and it's actually benefited my relationship with her

A light in the darkness

I found this book immensely useful in coming to a deeper understanding of moral foundations and their implications for civilizations. It inspires me to learn more and to actively engage thinkers and community leaders, to help preserve our individual and our collective security and prosperity. I think we all can get along. But it's going to take work and patience.

turning point in my understanding of human society

well performed by the author himself, need to listen again to absorb everything. highly recommended

a book all on the political spectrum should read

I highly recommend this book to anybody and everybody so that our country doesn't implode on itself from the bickering and short-sightedness we all might see as our correct truth

Excellent book about human nature

The reader is a little hard to hear at times, but the discussion on how humans think and feel, and the relationship between the two makes this a must read/listen

Really enjoyed this book.

Gained a better understanding of how societies and groups work. Especially interesting to me with an Anthropology background. Best definition of diversity out there without the PC. If anything it's a great story to understand that life tends to be about balance, yin yang. This holds true for the political spectrum of Left and Right.