The wealthy elite once signalled their status with expensive handbags and super yachts. Now they do it with what Rob Henderson calls “luxury beliefs” - so-called politically correct pronouncements that, in reality, only the rich can afford to live by and thusly differentiate them from the rest of us. We’re talking about such wokenesses as “defund the police” and calls for drug legalisation, death to marriage and putting “polyamorous” on your dating profile. Of course, defunding the police is all very well if you can afford to live in a gated community with low crime and security guards.
It should be said, Rob, now a moral philosopher at the University of Cambridge, comes at this wild idea from a very unique perspective. He grew up poor, a foster kid who was doing drugs at the age of 9 and who had to learn to decode elite signalling as an outsider once he hit the liberal US university scene. This is a super juicy and confronting thesis, evidence of which I can’t stop noticing everywhere and I loved the way Rob applies the wild idea to online dating, cancel culture and conservative politics.
Follow Rob on Twitter
Check out Rob's Website
And you can read the New York Times op-ed we talk about.
His book Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class will be published in the European fall of 2023.
We chat about Joseph Henrich’s WEIRD theory and class myths in Australia from my Lech Blaine chat, both ran a few episodes back.
If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" page.
Subscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversations.
Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life
Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
EMILY ATKIN: The best case ever for climate rage!
DAN BUETTNER: The Blue Zones guy shows us the trick to adding 10 years to our lives
ABBIE CHATFIELD: Millennial feminism, a mind blowing introduction.
FEARNE COTTON: A chat with the British ‘It’ girl’ about the struggle for happiness
THE LADY IN RED: special episode
DAVID WHYTE: The insta-calm of poetry and asking beautiful questions
SAUL GRIFFITH: Biden’s renegade climate advisor from Wollongong drops the best ever climate bomb!
OLIVER BURKEMAN: 4000 weeks…it’s all we got in this lifetime, folks!
Ask Me Anything...about climate change
CLARE DUBOIS: How victim consciousness is destroying the planet (fire up, people!)
TIMOTHY MORTON: My favourite hobby is making sure people don’t feel like dying
TARA JUNE WINCH: Being Aussie is a mental health crisis
DR JUD BREWER: On curiosity as the fix for anxiety
DR JILL BOLTE TAYLOR: The neuroscientist shows Sarah how to live blissfully in the right brain
Ask Me Anything - Part 2
Ask Me Anything - Part 1
TIM BROWN: Sarah’s meditation teacher joins the show
JAMES HOLLIS: The Jungian take on 2021
RUTGER BREGMAN: Author of Humankind on how to trust each other
MARGARET KLEIN SALAMON: I know I’ll die from climate change
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Hamish & Andy
The Howie Games
Motley Fool Money
Just the Gist
The Briefing