Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion

We are surrounded by tribes: political, professional, online, ideological. Each offer belonging at a price. Join, and you risk dissolving into a ready-made identity. Refuse, and you risk drifting into isolation. Either way, the modern person is pulled toward the same end: forming a fragmented self that is easier to manage, easier to sell to, and easier to recruit. Luke Burgis joins us with an alternative to this worldview.Further ReadingThe One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social ContagionLuke’s websiteLuke’s blogGuest InfoLuke Burgis is the author most recently of The One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion. He founded The Cluny Institute, which brings together philosophy, technology, and the arts in pursuit of a more human future, and is a professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is also the author of Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life, which has been translated into more than 20 languages. He lives in Washington, D.C., and Michigan with his wife, Claire, and their two daughters. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit avemariapm.substack.com