The Power of Us
A review of

The Power of Us

Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony

Jay J. Van Bavel and Dominic J. Packer • Little, Brown US • 2021
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Your Groups Are You

by David Meyer

How membership in groups – from your family to your political party – shapes your individual identity. 

Psychologists and professors Jay J. Van Bavel of New York University and Dominic J. Packer of Lehigh University explain that people reflect the groups they belong to – such as family, profession, religion, company, or political party – by aligning their individual identities with their various social identities.

A Major Influence

Homo sapiens is an extremely social species. People who collaborate as a team or group to fulfill a shared goal build a sense of solidarity – moreover, each person comes to view the group as part of his or her individual identity.

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