Overview

In Rule Makers, Rule Breakers celebrated cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand takes us on an epic journey through human cultures, offering a startling new view of the world and ourselves. With a mix of brilliantly conceived studies and surprising on-the-ground discoveries, she shows that much of the diversity in the way we think and act derives from a key difference--how tightly or loosely we adhere to social norms. Why are clocks in Germany so accurate while those in Brazil are frequently wrong? Why do New Zealand's women have the highest number of sexual partners? Why are ""Red"" and ""Blue"" States really so divided? Why was the Daimler-Chrysler merger ill-fated from the start? Why is the driver of a Jaguar more likely to run a red light than the driver of a plumber's van? Why does one spouse prize running a ""tight ship"" while the other refuses to ""sweat the small stuff?"" In search of a common answer, Gelfand has spent two decades conducting research in more than fifty countries. Across all age groups, family variations, social classes, businesses, states and nationalities, she's identified a primal pattern that can trigger cooperation or conflict. Her fascinating conclusion: behavior is highly influenced by the perception of threat. With an approach that is consistently riveting, Rule Makers, Rule Breakers thrusts many of the puzzling attitudes and actions we observe into sudden and surprising clarity.

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9781501152931

Table of Contents

Reviews

A fantastic book, academically anchored yet also fun to read and filled with practical implications. Its beauty derives from the breadth of its insight as Gelfand focuses in to illuminate, in succession, countries, states, corporations, groups and individuals. How many books pull off the feat of connecting clocks on city streets, to merger and acquisition outcomes, to groups that can both execute and explore? What an achievement! --Michael L. Tushman, coauthor of Winning Through Innovation and Lead and Disrupt A fascinating and profound book by one of psychology's most creative researchers. The well-chosen facts and findings about different cultures will make you alternately laugh, nod, and moan--and make you eager to read more. Beautifully written, packed with scientific facts and findings, this important book celebrates and explains the diversity of human culture. It emphasizes a key dimension of cultural difference: Some cultures pressure everyone to follow the same rules, while almost anything goes in other cultures--and Gelfand carefully and impressively lays out the pluses and minuses of both types. Anyone interested in the deep mysteries of human life and cultural diversity will find this book a rich source of information and a thought-provoking challenge to common assumptions. It's quite possibly this year's best book on culture. --Roy F. Baumeister, bestselling coauthor of Willpower and author of The Cultural Animal Despite their great importance, the hidden factors that influence whether people comply with what is expected of them or write their own script has long gone underappreciated. With this book, Michele Gelfand has done much to unravel the mysteries of human motivation. Anyone interested in how social norms--and, therefore, people -- operate will be grateful for her compelling analysis. --Robert Cialdini, bestselling author of Influence and Pre-Suasion This brilliant book is full of well-documented insights that will change the way you look at yourself and at the world around you. Gelfand presents a wealth of scientific evidence with a light touch that has the reader eager to know what comes next. I can't think of anyone who won't learn something important from this book. --Barry Schwartz, bestselling author of The Paradox of Choice, Practical Wisdom, and Why We Work

A delightful, insightful, and fascinating look at the remarkable diversity of human customs--where they come from and how they shape our lives. --Daniel Gilbert, bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness A groundbreaking analysis . . . Anyone interested in our cultural divides will find tremendous insight in Rule Makers, Rule Breakers. --Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Enlightenment Now A valuable lens for decoding the nature of our cultural conflicts and an intriguing new tool for solving them. --Colin Woodard, Winner of the George Polk Award, Pulitzer finalist, and author of American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America A must-read book that will fundamentally change the way you look at the world, particularly at our bewildering cultural moment . . . You will emerge a smarter, broader person, with a deeper, more informed perspective for thinking and talking about the issues that consume us all. --Todd Kliman, Winner of the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award and author of The Wild Vine Brilliant . . . Gelfand's findings, which are backed by massive empirical evidence, go far to explain why the people of different countries have different worldviews. --Ronald F. Inglehart, Director of the World Values Survey and author of Cultural Evolution Extremely important . . . Gelfand has identified and explored a hugely significant aspect of culture that accounts for why and when we fall into step with a group, or alternatively, set off on our own path. --Richard Nisbett, author of The Geography of Thought: How Westerners and Asians Think Differently...and Why Fantastic . . . Its beauty derives from the breadth of its insight as Gelfand focuses in to illuminate, in succession, countries, states, corporations, groups and individuals. --Michael L. Tushman, coauthor of Winning Through Innovation and Lead and Disrupt A particularly timely analysis for our current Age of Anxiety and uncertainty, where people and nations no longer feel confident in what the next generation and near future will bring. --Scott Atran, cofounder of the Center for the Resolution of Intractable Conflicts at Oxford University, and Research Director in Anthropology at the French National Center for Scientific Research A thought-provoking look at the contours of modern tribalism--one that uses a deceptively simple dividing line: the split between tight and loose cultures and personalities. --Dante Chinni, coauthor of The Patchwork Nation and Director of the American Communities Project at George Washington University If you're going to read one book this year to better understand the world's problems and what can be done to solve them, Gelfand's masterpiece should be it. --Alon Tal, author of The Land Is Full and founder of the Israeli Union for Environmental Defense Dazzling . . . When people don't abide by socially expected rules, families, businesses, and whole societies splinter apart. But is there a downside to following the rules too closely? Read Rule Makers, Rule Breakers to find out. --Peter Turchin, author of Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth Smart, provocative, and very entertaining . . . Gelfand argues that the tendency to devise and abide by rules, or, alternatively, push behavioral limits is the fundamental distinction between human societies. --Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology, Yale University, author of Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion Gelfand has done much to unravel the mysteries of human motivation. --Robert Cialdini, bestselling author of Influence and Pre-Suasion Remarkable. Not just an enlightening book but a game-changing one. By uncovering the inner workings of tight and loose cultures, Rule Makers, Rule Breakers suddenly makes sense of the puzzling behavior we see all around us--in colleagues, family, and even ourselves. --Carol Dweck, bestselling author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success Brilliant . . . full of well-documented insights that will change the way you look at yourself and at the world around you. --Barry Schwartz, bestselling author of The Paradox of Choice, Practical Wisdom, and Why We Work Fascinating and profound . . . It's quite possibly this year's best book on culture. --Roy F. Baumeister, bestselling coauthor of Willpower and author of The Cultural Animal

Author Information

Michele Gelfand is a Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her pioneering research into cultural norms has been cited thousands of times in the press, including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, and Science, and on NPR. The recipient of numerous awards, she is a past president of the International Association for Conflict Management.

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