In this episode, Alex reads his latest essay from All the Fits That’s News — a piece that starts with a Star Trek argument and ends somewhere considerably less comfortable.
The essay traces what happens when group membership stops being a background feature of how we live and starts running the cognitive show. Drawing on Henri Tajfel’s social identity theory experiments from the 1970s, it examines how we sort ourselves into groups, absorb those groups into our sense of self, and then quietly let them do our reasoning for us—in politics, in the media, in workplaces, and, yes, in fandom.
Also: Sting, sunk cost fallacy, and at least one book Alex wishes he could take back.
Referenced in this episode:
Henri Tajfel and social identity theory — foundational research in social psychology on group behavior and in-group favoritism
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — still the best of the lot
Sting / The Police — inventive, worth your time, not above criticism
Sunk cost fallacy — the tendency to keep investing in something because of what you’ve already put in, rather than what it’s actually returning
Book J. Alexander Greenwood for keynotes, panels, podcasts, and live conversations!
J. Alexander Greenwood speaks on work, writing, media, and the systems people navigate every day, drawing on real-world experience as a writer, communicator, and podcaster.
If you’re interested, you’ll find everything you need here: jalexandergreenwood.com.
