Jonathan Haidt describes his new book,听The听Coddling of the American Mind, as 鈥渁听mystery story鈥�. Something strange and significant started happening on campuses around 2015, he and his co-author Greg Lukian颅off believe, which can be summed up in听the word 鈥渟afetyism鈥� 鈥� and they want to know听why.

Take the striking case of Rebecca Tuvel, assistant professor of philosophy at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2017, she听wrote听.听This compared the largely positive response to听reality television star and former Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner鈥檚 gender transition with the 鈥渞idicule and condemnation鈥� that greeted the听news that civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal had admitted that she was not herself black but a white woman who 鈥渋dentif[ies] as听black鈥�.

Tuvel, suggests Haidt, Thomas Colley professor of ethical leadership at New York University, was doing 鈥渟omething philosophers have been doing for thousands of years: [saying] here鈥檚 one case; here鈥檚 another. They seem superficially similar. Why do we treat them 颅differently?鈥�

Yet the response to the article was a furious open letter asking for it to be retracted. A critic on Facebook claimed that it 鈥渆nacts violence and perpetuates harm in numerous ways鈥�. Among her startling offences were that Tuvel 鈥渢alks about 鈥榖iological sex鈥欌€� and 鈥渦ses phrases like 鈥榤ale genitalia鈥欌€�.

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This episode can only be understood, claims Haidt, once one takes account of 鈥渢he culture of safetyism, which says that a single word can cause a feeling of offence, hurt or marginalisation, and therefore a person who uses such a听word has committed an act of violence and must be punished. This would have made no听sense to anyone five or 10 years ago. Now this morality is held by large numbers of young听people.鈥�

When Haidt and Lukianoff first wrote about these issues, Haidt recalls, 鈥渕any professors were sceptical. They said we were cherry-picking, we were making a big deal out of five or 10 well-known anecdotes from around the country. But now when I听speak to a small group of professors, most of them will have a first-hand story themselves 鈥� of when they used a perfectly ordinary word and someone wrote a听letter to the dean or accused them of something in class.鈥�

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Yet Haidt also sees faculty as very much part of the problem. While acknowledging that the vast majority of professors 鈥済o to work in the morning trying to figure out what the truth听is鈥�, he suspects that 鈥渋n schools of education and social work, in departments of听media studies, anthropology and many of the literary fields, the goal of fighting oppression is at least equal and sometimes superior to the search for truth. This is a small minority of the university, but they have a lot of influence on what can be said publicly, because they come down savagely on people in other departments who violate their sacred values.鈥�

As an example of how discussion can get shut down, Haidt cites 鈥渁听social psychology lunch鈥� he attended when 鈥渟omeone was presenting research on why men were more likely to go into math and engineering and they were looking at implicit prejudices and biases. And I听said, 鈥楽ure, that could be possible, but might it not also be the case that there鈥檚 less desire or interest? We know that prenatal hormones affect the play preferences of children.鈥� There was shocked silence and nobody would engage with that. There was visible discomfort鈥he influence of prenatal hormones on ability is small, but the impact on enjoyment is gigantic. And this is clearly at听least relevant to gendered occupational differences. But it is very dangerous to say that, even more than it was 10 years ago; you听could be fired for saying听that.鈥�

In his own classroom, although he mainly teaches older, MBA, students, Haidt has decided that it is prudent to modify his persona. 鈥淚听no longer tell jokes or show videos that might offend anyone in the class. I鈥檓 a听much less interesting teacher! There are many cases of people taking offence at something meant as a joke. Many comedians say they won鈥檛 perform on college campuses any听more.鈥�

Here, then, is the 鈥渕ystery鈥� that needs to be elucidated. There is something about students born after roughly 1995 鈥� sometimes known as iGen or Generation听Y 鈥� that makes them different from earlier cohorts. So, Haidt explains, he and Lukianoff decided to ask, 鈥淲hy did this new moral culture come in so quickly? Where did it come听from?鈥�

As he has form in writing about 鈥渕oral cultures鈥�, it is worth looking back to his powerful 2012 book,听The Righteous Mind, which sets out to 鈥渉elp us to get along鈥�.

Subtitled 鈥渨hy good people are divided by听politics and religion鈥�, it argues that our moral arguments are 鈥渕ostly post听hoc constructions made up on the fly, crafted to advance one or more strategic objectives鈥�. While the human race has at least 鈥�six听摆尘辞谤补濒闭听taste receptors鈥ecular Western moralities听are like cuisines that try to activate just one or two of [them] 鈥� either concerns about harm and suffering, or concerns about fairness and injustice鈥People from different traditions rely听on] many other powerful moral intuitions, such as those related to liberty, loyalty, authority, and sanctity.鈥�

The book incorporates some striking examples of people struggling to rationalise their intuitive feelings of disgust about actions 鈥� such as eating a dead family pet or having sex with a frozen supermarket chicken 鈥� that appear to cause no harm. We are all, to some extent, trapped within our own moral universes and vocabularies.

Exploring how different people rely on different moral 鈥渢aste receptors鈥�, Haidt reports, 鈥渕ade [him] a political centrist philosophically鈥�. He is still a committed Democrat (鈥渢he听Republican Party has gradually lost its mind, its heart and its soul鈥�), yet when he 鈥渓ook[s] at the philosophical traditions and ordinary citizens and voters, I听now find a lot to like and respect on both sides鈥�.

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础濒迟丑辞耻驳丑听The Righteous Mind听was well received, according to its author, 鈥減eople on the far left generally dislike it, because I听don鈥檛 demonise the right鈥�.

Such 鈥渄emonisation鈥�, in Haidt鈥檚 view, is counterproductive. 鈥淗ating someone and understanding them are mutually incompatible. The more you hate someone, the less you听can understand them. The less you听can understand them, the less effective you听are in听your political activity.鈥�

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Many of the themes of his earlier book 鈥撎€済etting along鈥�, blinkered moral thinking, the dangers of demonisation 鈥� are also central to听The Coddling of the American Mind.

厂辞耻谤肠别:听

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So what has gone wrong?

Lukianoff and Haidt鈥檚 book points to a number of factors. Politics in the US has become so polarised that 鈥淎mericans are now motivated to leave their couches to take part in political action not by love for their party鈥檚 candidate but by hatred of the other party鈥檚 candidate鈥�. Many parents have adopted a paranoid style of child-rearing 鈥渨ildly out of sync with the actual risk that strangers pose to children鈥�. The middle classes prioritise music lessons, team sports and other supervised activities that might look good on an application form for an elite university over the kind of unsupervised free play that lets kids 鈥渆njoy a healthy amount of risk鈥� and learn life skills for themselves. All this has had a听major impact on the 鈥渇ragility鈥� and lack of听openness to alternative perspectives of students now attending universities.

There is also evidence for a significant 鈥渞ise听in rates of depression and anxiety听among American adolescents鈥�. Lukianoff 鈥� a lawyer who serves as president of听听(Fire) 鈥� himself suffered for many years from severe depression, which was relieved only when he discovered cognitive behavioural therapy. This taught him to recognise, but not succumb to, various negative patterns of thinking such as 鈥渃atastrophising鈥� and 鈥渙vergeneralising鈥�. It was precisely because of this, we read, that he 鈥渨as troubled when he noticed that some students鈥� reactions to speech on college campuses exhibited听exactly the same distortions听that he had learned to rebut in his own therapy鈥�. The belief that we should always trust our feelings, common among students and certain kinds of听academics (as well as in the White House these days), can only make things worse.

Many things have gone wrong in the world since 2015, so why should we give undue attention to the seemingly minor problem of a culture of fragility among students? Moreover, some US educators wonder if the crusade against the student听听of 鈥減olitical correctness鈥� is actually being driven by those with a more insidious agenda. While Fire鈥檚 website emphasises that it听is studiously non-partisan, it has听听large gifts from several Republican-supporting foundations 鈥� including one organisation听run by the strongly conservative billionaire Koch brothers.

At a time when he feels 鈥渆xtremely pessimistic, almost to the point of panic, about the future of American democracy鈥�, Haidt would dearly like universities to assume their role as 鈥渢he pre-eminent institutions preparing students to encounter political differences and work with each other in a democratic framework. Right now, I听think many universities are making things worse, not better.鈥�

So what is to be done?

Haidt puts much of his faith in the seemingly unexciting ideal of听process听(鈥淚听don鈥檛 think in terms of left-right, I听think in terms of听process. If there were a party devoted to process, I听would join it鈥�).

The pursuit of knowledge, as he sees it, depends crucially on process. 鈥淗uman reasoning is so flawed because it was designed for social manipulation and tribal success, so it鈥檚 a听miracle that we can get scientific thinking out of our brains. We can鈥檛 do it as individuals, we听can only do it when we have a good process鈥f there鈥檚 a diversity of views and people are free to challenge each other, then you have a good process. But if people are afraid of social consequences for saying what they believe is true, then you have a bad听process.鈥�

Haidt is a central figure behind听听designed to depolarize communities and foster mutual understanding across differences鈥�. He is also closely involved in听听鈥渁听politically diverse group of more than 1,800 professors and graduate students who have come together to improve the quality of research and education in universities by increasing viewpoint diversity, mutual understanding, and constructive disagreement鈥�. Since 2011, he has been 鈥渃ollecting data on the decline of political diversity鈥� in the academy. Initially, he听thought the answer was to 鈥渇ind more conservatives, so we get the ratio back down to maybe four or five to one鈥�, since 鈥�20 to one is not fine鈥�. But this turned out to be a forlorn hope, because 鈥渢here are not many conservatives in the pipeline鈥�.

More recently, Haidt has come to see that 鈥渢here听is听diversity in the academy, but it comes from libertarians and centrists 鈥� not everybody is on the left. And that is enough to provide viewpoint diversity.鈥� The challenge is to activate this through the right form of process.

鈥淧rocess鈥� is also the key to dilemmas about controversial speakers on campus. Although Haidt does not believe that universities have 鈥渁n obligation to invite provocateurs鈥�,听
anyone willing to 鈥減lay the game of pursuit听of truth by presenting ideas and responding听to counterarguments should be welcome鈥�.听For example, when the conservative political scientist Charles Murray 鈥� often criticised听as a racist for his co-authored 1994 book听The Bell Curve听鈥� was invited to Middlebury College, Vermont, in 2017 to speak about听鈥渢he white working class, which had just voted for Trump鈥�, he听should have been vigorously debated rather than subjected to violent protest.

Finally, while Haidt welcomes the fact听that 鈥渢his generation cares a lot more听about diversity and inclusion than previous generations鈥�, universities鈥� orientation processes need to face up to the difficulties听and 鈥渆mphasise that diversity is hard, that听we all have to give each other the benefit of the doubt if we are going to live together,听that we have to work out our problems and not go accusing each other of aggression听and violence鈥�. Only such an听approach can听help to create 鈥渁听healthy, cooperative,听supportive community鈥�.听

Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt鈥檚听The听Coddling of the American Mind听has just been published by Allen Lane.

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