Fascinating essay from 1987 on Soviet youth, just a couple of years before the collapse of the USSR nytimes.com/1987/07/26/mag…
"years of eroding official credibility...Gorbachev's efforts to revive the Soviet Union depend on his ability to engage the young...The country's young are—not universally, but in sufficient quantity to spell trouble—spoiled, alienated, and indifferent"
"Soviet analysts have discovered a general failure of the institutions designed to mold Russian children into bright-eyed young Socialists. Komsomol [communist youth organization] doesn't work, school doesn't work, the army doesn't work, even work doesn't work."
More on Soviet youth: "That teenagers, unlike their parents, have not had to work to supplement the family income is a matter of national pride....experts fear the result has been a generation that expects to be supported well into its 20s, and then to find cushy, well-paid jobs"
The role of the Soviet war in Afghanistan: "The war in Afghanistan..has played a part in this disenchantment...At least half a million young men have served in Afghanistan, an estimated 12,000 have died, and many more have returned with injuries, drug habits or deepened cynicism"
The Soviet youth had a variety of different responses to malaise: Robbing wealthy people, burning cars and houses, lifting weights, self-discipline and stoicism
"I ask my students, 'What do you think is going to happen next? Will things change? Will we live better?' Not an optimistic word from anyone. Already, at 17, they don't believe."
"material conditions alone do not explain everything that happens in the world...the Soviet Union collapsed between 1989 and 1991...The military power of the Soviet state had never been greater, but its authority — a psychological and not a material condition — was non-existent"

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More from @robkhenderson

11 Apr
The Sopranos is about American decline, evident in the outcomes of the young male characters

Jackie Aprile involved in organized crime, botches a robbery, ends up dead

Chris Moltisanti hooked on drugs, drives while intoxicated & murdered

AJ suffers depression & panic attacks
In any other show, the main young character would show promise and gradually rise within the organization. In this one, Chris Moltisanti succumbed to addiction, had an absentee father, and his boomer uncle stymies his dreams of becoming a screenwriter before killing Chris
Christopher Moltisanti betrayed his fiancé in favor of his job, and his boss ends up killing him
Read 4 tweets
5 Mar
In dictatorships, extravagant flattery for the leader is a costly demonstration of loyalty

But flattery creates problems for the leader. If everyone is praises you, how do you know who is truly on your side?

Hard to tell cheap talk from true devotion /1
journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.101…
This has been called the “dictator’s dilemma.” It’s hard for a dictator to know who supports him if everyone says they love him

The dictator wants costly, reliable indicators of your support /2
You can’t just say he’s a good dude. You have to say he’s extraordinary. He can climb the walls like Spider-Man. He can disappear and reappear in another location

Signaling spirals emerge. People build monuments and gigantic images dedicated to the dictator in public squares /3
Read 23 tweets
14 Feb
Henrich refers to the "Big-5" as the "WEIRD-5" because researchers have failed to identify the 5 personality configurations in non-student adult populations in Bolivia, Ghana, Kenya, Laos, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Macedonia, among other non-WEIRD locations
The Tsimane, a farmer-forager community, showed only 2 dimensions of personality that didn't quite map onto any of the Big-5:

Interpersonal prosociality: Inclination to cultivate rich social relationships

Industriousness: Working hard on useful skills like weaving and hunting
When there are few social niches available, and less emphasis on cultivating unique individual attributes, then people tend to be more similar to one another

When there are many options and social niches and individualism is prized, then differences between people magnify
Read 4 tweets
23 Jan
"implications of this research were clear. To induce men to buy diamonds for women, advertising should focus on the emotional impact of the 'surprise' gift transaction...expectation that a 'gift of love' would enhance his standing in the eyes of a woman" theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…
"advertising agency...suggested offering stories and society photographs to selected magazines and newspapers which would reinforce the link between diamonds and romance. Stories would stress the size of diamonds that celebrities presented to their loved ones."
"Promote the diamond as one material object which can reflect, in a very personal way, a man's success in life...campaign addressed to upwardly mobile men, advertisements ideally should have the aroma of tweed, old leather and polished wood which is characteristic of a good club"
Read 4 tweets
23 Dec 20
Best books I read in 2020

1. Atomic Habits by @JamesClear

“If you show up at the gym 5 days in a row—even for 2 minutes—you're casting votes for your new identity. You’re not worried about getting in shape. Youre focused on becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts”
Good Reasons for Bad Feelings

amzn.to/3nJqB4c

2. “social anxiety is overwhelmingly common. Natural selection shaped us to care enormously what other people think..We constantly monitor how much others value us..Low self-esteem is a signal to try harder to please others”
The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

amzn.to/39iSqJP

“Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents...Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without a believe in a devil.”
Read 23 tweets
22 Dec 20
The common understanding of propaganda is that it is intended to brainwash the masses. Supposedly, people get exposed to the same message repeatedly and over time come to believe in whatever nonsense authoritarians want them to believe /1
And yet authoritarians often broadcast silly, unpersuasive propaganda.

Political scientist Haifeng Huang writes that the purpose of propaganda is not to brainwash people, but to instill fear in them /2
When people are bombarded with propaganda everywhere they look, they are reminded of the strength of the regime.

The vast amount of resources authoritarians spend to display their message in every corner of the public square is a costly demonstration of their power /3
Read 19 tweets

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