A review by sweetearlgrey
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt

challenging informative medium-paced

3.0

"The Righteous Mind" introduces its reader to the fascinating field of moral psychology through a blend of scientific research and political commentary. It aims to make complex ideas accessible to a wide audience, peppering the book with humour and engaging metaphors like the "elephant and rider", representing our emotional intuitions and rational minds respectively. 

That said, my enjoyment of the book was somewhat undercut by its overly U.S.-centric perspective when it came to political analysis. As a European, comparisons between Republican and Democratic voters feel narrow for a book covering such universal human themes. His arguments favouring religious and conservative values also come across as biased at times. Furthermore, this discussion could have  benefited from a deeper exploration of how to apply what we know about group and moral psychology in our age of social media echo chambers and polarization.

Ultimately, "The Righteous Mind" provides a thought-provoking overview of why morality varies among individuals and groups. It encourages readers to consider other worldviews more charitably. But it leaves much to be explored in uniting different moral foundations in practice.