Our Search for Belonging: How Our Need to Connect Is Tearing Us Apart

Why are we so divided today? Paradoxically, Howard Ross, author of Everyday Bias, says it’s our compulsion to belong to a group–something hardwired into us– that ends up making us deeply connected with some, yet deeply divided from others. Ross shows how we can overcome this growing tribalism.

We are living in a world of almost unparalleled separation. People are no longer disagreeing, but are instead disavowing each other’s rights to an opinion. What is driving this polarization, and how can we overcome it? Howard Ross says that ironically it’s our profound need to belong. He delves deeply into the powerful psychological, neurological, and biological forces that drive us to want to identify so strongly with a group we’re sometimes even willing to sacrifice our individual identity.

Drawing on his decades of leadership in the diversity and inclusion field, Ross probes the depth and impact of this growing tribalism, the role social media plays in exacerbating it, the ways it impacts every aspect of the daily lives, and how to combat it. Readers will gain tools for exploring contentious dialogue in healthier ways and guidelines for breaking down barriers and building bridges across difference, and organizations and institutions will be able to develop approaches that can open dialogue and encourage mutual understanding.