Podcast of the Week: Junger on Tribes

January 05, 2019

Sebastian Junger shares some profound insights on what it means to be part of a community on EconTalk. Not in some ethereal, purely philosophical sense, but in a gritty, “you need this” sense. A quote:

Humans don’t mind hardship. In fact they thrive on it. What they mind is not feeling necessary. Modern society has perfected the art of making people not feel necessary.

Junger tells Russ Roberts that every society needs to defend themselves against enemies and stay together. If we don’t stay together we’ll have nothing to defend. If we don’t defend we won’t be able to stay together. Communities are how we feel necessary. Or at least they should be.

From our families to our companies to our teams, this is such relevant work. Do listen and check the book out too.