The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

Greg Lukianoff · Jonathan Haidt

Sep 2018 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

Something is going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and afraid to speak honestly. How did this happen?
 
First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and education: what doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths are incompatible with basic psychological principles, as well as ancient wisdom from many cultures. They interfere with healthy development. Anyone who embraces these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—is less likely to become an autonomous adult able to navigate the bumpy road of life.
 
Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to produce these untruths. They situate the conflicts on campus in the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization, including a rise in hate crimes and off-campus provocation. They explore changes in childhood including the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade.
 
This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines.

Ratings and reviews

Most people who find themselves pining for the "good ol' days" before cancel culture will not find anything groundbreaking here because the points the authors do point out with great clarity are, to an extent, common sense. Their research, explanations, and presentation are to be hailed, though, and although it is sad to an extent that a book like this had to be written, thank goodness that it was.

A thought-provoking look at current university culture's push into 'cancel culture, intolerence of different ideas, safe spaces,etc.', how we got there, why it is doing university students (and greater societ a disservice) and how to reverse this trend. Well researched and well argued, this is a must read for anyone who believes that we can respectfully disagree.

Thank you for your work, research, clarity, and following the truth. May it set us free. Peace. 🕊️

About the author

Greg Lukianoff is an attorney and president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. A regular columnist for the Huffington Post, he is a frequent guest on nationally syndicated radio programs and has made numerous television appearances. He received the 2010 Ford Hall Forum’s Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award on behalf of FIRE. Lukianoff is a graduate of American University and Stanford Law School.

Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He obtained his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, and then taught at the University of Virginia for 16 years. He is the author of The Righteous Mind and The Happiness Hypothesis.