List Price: $28.99 Details

Save: $14.23 (49%)

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime & FREE Returns

FREE delivery Saturday, April 30 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Wednesday, April 27. Order within 1 hr 51 mins

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.

[{"displayPrice":"$14.76","priceAmount":14.76,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"76","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"YLuj6QnXlJzncF%2Flz4Kn97H%2FD%2BkpaEMkSdP6defU3D%2F8j9RSNWaNfy2NpAUvajsYbuC6HBCf0oz9UqcNwC4oZmKs1a0%2BFzk7P2FD%2B4al8zP4k21IYxDCpZZnU%2BDZzOyjmBh0zAlxeBSye2E8adDG%2FA%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$12.44","priceAmount":12.44,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"12","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"44","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"a817JJnnIMxgPd4Sx%2BnZY20Owenxpz7oGEmv4rPcxYsumBTfHC9tXPbdZ0k89ERt13NXUdbEtZp%2Bc3UqMOxR1bhfA9bgZgcOLUKz0A2E57WROqMlL2YONEq655mFpbs4cbmlfuYnx6EYU9zK3Tv81nVciyQip8ITKmWprDFF%2B3hGtwbR0br%2FjLkrMXCJfUo%2B","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$14.76 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Monday, May 2 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Used: Good | Details

Sold by book_mark

Fulfilled by Amazon

Share <Embed>

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$11.00
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: pearlbook

Added

Not added

$17.07
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Sold by: ElectrifiedVibe

Added

Not added

$14.00
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: Senior Dog Rescue

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Michele Gelfand

Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World Hardcover – September 11, 2018

by Michele Gelfand (Author)

181 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$13.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$14.76

$11.00

$3.59

Paperback

"Please retry"

$13.20

$12.09

$5.67

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$22.36

—

Enhance your purchase

In Rule Makers, Rule Breakers celebrated cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand takes us on an epic journey through human cultures, offering a startling new view of the world and ourselves. With a mix of brilliantly conceived studies and surprising on-the-ground discoveries, she shows that much of the diversity in the way we think and act derives from a key difference—how tightly or loosely we adhere to social norms.

Why are clocks in Germany so accurate while those in Brazil are frequently wrong? Why do New Zealand’s women have the highest number of sexual partners? Why are “Red” and “Blue” States really so divided? Why was the Daimler-Chrysler merger ill-fated from the start? Why is the driver of a Jaguar more likely to run a red light than the driver of a plumber’s van? Why does one spouse prize running a “tight ship” while the other refuses to “sweat the small stuff?”

In search of a common answer, Gelfand has spent two decades conducting research in more than fifty countries. Across all age groups, family variations, social classes, businesses, states and nationalities, she’s identified a primal pattern that can trigger cooperation or conflict. Her fascinating conclusion: behavior is highly influenced by the perception of threat.

With an approach that is consistently riveting, Rule Makers, Rule Breakers thrusts many of the puzzling attitudes and actions we observe into sudden and surprising clarity.

Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Scribner
Publication date

September 11, 2018
Dimensions

6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1501152939
ISBN-13

978-1501152931
See all details

Frequently bought together

Mark D. Pagel
37
Paperback
45 offers from $4.90
Dr. Jeffery Scott Mio
151
Paperback
40 offers from $54.90
Joseph Henrich
799
Paperback
51 offers from $15.78
David Epstein
6,841
Paperback
62 offers from $2.90
Steven Johnson
186
Paperback
8 offers from $13.00
Dolly Chugh
640
Hardcover
127 offers from $1.82

Editorial Reviews

Review

“An engaging writer with intellectual range. [Gelfand] sparkles most when diving into evolutionary anthropology to make sense of long-term patterns…This is interesting stuff.”
—New York Times Book Review

“Brightly written . . . Gelfand offers many intriguing observations . . . A useful and engaging take on human behavior.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A brilliant and timely book . . . Michele Gelfand has exposed a universal fault line running beneath nations, states, organizations, and even families. Cultures that face threat and uncertainty seek order and precision. Cultures with firmer footings revel in ambiguity and risk taking. This idea, at once so simple and so powerful, will forever change how you see the world.”
—Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing and Drive:The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

“A delightful, insightful, and fascinating look at the remarkable diversity of human customs—where they come from and how they shape our lives.”
—Daniel Gilbert, bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness

“Completely fascinating . . . [Gelfand] reveals how political divides, happiness and suicide rates, and the coexistence of crime and creativity can all be traced to a fundamental but neglected dimension of social norms. You’ll never look at a workplace, a country, or a family the same way again.”
—Adam Grant, bestselling author of Originals, Give and Take, and Option B with Sheryl Sandberg

“Offers a powerful new way of seeing the world. Gelfand's deceptively simple thesis becomes increasingly compelling as her research unfolds across politics, class, and organizational behavior. Best of all, she provides a new toolkit for change."
—Anne Marie Slaughter, President and CEO of New America, former director of Policy Planning for the State Department, and author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family

“A groundbreaking analysis . . . Anyone interested in our cultural divides will find tremendous insight in Rule Makers, Rule Breakers.”
—Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Enlightenment Now

"Remarkable. Not just an enlightening book but a game-changing one. By uncovering the inner workings of tight and loose cultures, Rule Makers, Rule Breakers suddenly makes sense of the puzzling behavior we see all around us—in colleagues, family, and even ourselves."
—Carol Dweck, bestselling author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

"Brilliant . . . full of well-documented insights that will change the way you look at yourself and at the world around you.”
—Barry Schwartz, bestselling author of The Paradox of Choice, Practical Wisdom, and Why We Work

“Gelfand has done much to unravel the mysteries of human motivation."
—Robert Cialdini, bestselling author of Influence and Pre-Suasion

“Everyone should read this book! . . . It is rare that one overarching principle can explain so much, but Michele Gelfand nails it with her brilliant analysis of how tightly or loosely people adhere to social norms. In a fascinating narrative full of entertaining examples, she illuminates and explains this distinction, and by so doing increases our understanding of cultural conflict, the partisan divide, organizational success, happiness, creativity, and much more.”
—Timothy D. Wilson, author of Redirect: Changing the Stories We Live By

“Fascinating and profound . . . It’s quite possibly this year’s best book on culture.”
—Roy F. Baumeister, bestselling coauthor of Willpower and author of The Cultural Animal

“Smart, provocative, and very entertaining . . . Gelfand argues that the tendency to devise and abide by rules, or, alternatively, push behavioral limits is the fundamental distinction between human societies.”
—Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology, Yale University, author of Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion

“Dazzling . . . When people don’t abide by socially expected rules, families, businesses, and whole societies splinter apart. But is there a downside to following the rules too closely? Read Rule Makers, Rule Breakers to find out.”
—Peter Turchin, author of Ultrasociety: How 10,000 Years of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth

“If you’re going to read one book this year to better understand the world’s problems and what can be done to solve them, Gelfand’s masterpiece should be it.”
—Alon Tal, author of The Land Is Full and founder of the Israeli Union for Environmental Defense

“A thought-provoking look at the contours of modern tribalism—one that uses a deceptively simple dividing line: the split between “tight” and “loose” cultures and personalities.”
—Dante Chinni, coauthor of The Patchwork Nation and Director of the American Communities Project at George Washington University

“A particularly timely analysis for our current Age of Anxiety and uncertainty, where people and nations no longer feel confident in what the next generation and near future will bring.”
—Scott Atran, cofounder of the Center for the Resolution of Intractable Conflicts at Oxford University, and Research Director in Anthropology at the French National Center for Scientific Research

"Fantastic . . . Its beauty derives from the breadth of its insight as Gelfand focuses in to illuminate, in succession, countries, states, corporations, groups and individuals."
—Michael L. Tushman, coauthor of Winning Through Innovation and Lead and Disrupt

“Extremely important . . . Gelfand has identified and explored a hugely significant aspect of culture that accounts for why and when we fall into step with a group, or alternatively, set off on our own path.”
—Richard Nisbett, author of The Geography of Thought: How Westerners and Asians Think Differently…and Why

“Brilliant . . . Gelfand’s findings, which are backed by massive empirical evidence, go far to explain why the people of different countries have different worldviews.”
—Ronald F. Inglehart, Director of the World Values Survey and author of Cultural Evolution

“A must-read book that will fundamentally change the way you look at the world, particularly at our bewildering cultural moment . . . You will emerge a smarter, broader person, with a deeper, more informed perspective for thinking and talking about the issues that consume us all.”
—Todd Kliman, Winner of the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award and author of The Wild Vine

“A valuable lens for decoding the nature of our cultural conflicts and an intriguing new tool for solving them.”
—Colin Woodard, Winner of the George Polk Award, Pulitzer finalist, and author of American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

About the Author

Michele Gelfand is a Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her pioneering research into cultural norms has been cited thousands of times in the press, including in The New York Times, The Washington Post,Harvard Business Review,and Science, and on NPR. The recipient of numerous awards, she is a past president of the International Association for Conflict Management.

Start reading Rule Makers, Rule Breakers on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner (September 11, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501152939
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501152931
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.19 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #564,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #433 in Sociology of Social Theory
- #1,519 in Medical Social Psychology & Interactions
- #2,054 in Popular Social Psychology & Interactions

Customer Reviews:
181 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Michele Gelfand

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Michele Gelfand is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. Gelfand uses a variety of methods to understand how cultures vary around the world and with what consequence for groups. Her work has been cited over 20,000 times and has been featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, National Public Radio, Voice of America, Fox News, NBC News, ABC News, The Economist, De Standard, among other outlets. Her work on tightness-looseness was cited as one of the most important social science theories explaining the U.S. election in 2016 in the New Yorker (see https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-psychological-research-that-helps-explain-the-election)

Gelfand has published in premier outlets such as Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Psychological Science, Nature Scientific Reports, PLOS 1, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Annual Review of Psychology, American Psychologist, among others. She is the founding co-editor of the Advances in Culture and Psychology Annual Series and the Frontiers of Culture and Psychology series (Oxford University Press, and the co-author of The Handbook of Negotiation and Culture (2004, Stanford University Press) and Values, Political Action, and Change in the Middle East and the Arab Spring (2017, Oxford University Press). She is the Past President of the International Association for Conflict Management, Past Division Chair of the Conflict Division of the Academy of Management, and Past Treasurer of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. She received the 2017 Outstanding International Psychologist Award from the American Psychological Association, the 2016 Diener award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Annaliese Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Her website is www.gelfand.umd.edu and Wiki is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_J._Gelfand.

Follow her on Twitter @MicheleJGelfand

Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		14%
3 star		10%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

How are ratings calculated?

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Apillarofsalt

A brilliant book to help you understand different cultures

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

Rule makers, rule breakers is one of the most engrossing books I’ve read. I especially like how Gelfand weaves entertaining stories about cultural phenomena into her book alongside fascinating analysis of cross-cultural research. I read a lot of books about social science and culture, but with this one I feel I have found a new tool with which to understand different cultures. And I appreciate how Gelfand seasons her prose with personal and professional insights. It led me to reflect on how the tightness-looseness concept can explain virtually every global cultural phenomenon we’ve witnessed in recent years, from why Trump won the US election to why people from different cultures have distinct sets
of behaviors. It is a must-read not just for students and professionals but for business leaders, educators and for just someone who wants to make sense of this ever-changing world.

21 people found this helpful

Helpful

Sean G

Enlightening and surprising!

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

An enlightening and surprising exploration into the origins of tight and loose cultures around the world and across America.

Author Michele Gelfand takes the reader on a deep dive into how certain countries became culturally conservative (tight) while others became culturally liberal (loose). She presents compelling arguments as to how war, disease, natural disasters, and other external forces calibrate the social codes of different societies. That coding helps societies cooperate, band together, thwart external threats, maintain social order and/or innovate, liberate and promote individual freedoms.

Peeling back the layers of how some societies, and regions, become either more conservative or more liberal, Gelfand demonstrates how understanding the genesis of these cultural differences helps us gain better insight into their social rules.

Culturally conservative societies (or states) make and enforce strict rules about social conduct because of a deep history of conflict, chronic threats and hardship. Humans tighten their social rules when the need to fall in line is a matter of life and death for the group at large. Religion often plays a central role in tight societies because of its strict rules-based tenets and rituals. Tight societies prioritize conformity and obedience over individual liberty.

On the other hand, culturally liberal societies tend to break rules because their history is not strewn with high levels of conflict and hardship. These societies (and regions) tend to promote individual freedom and creativity and flourish as hotbeds of human innovation.

Gelfand states that all societies need a balance of both tight and loose in order to function and thrive. Too much of either can make a society a stagnant, oppressive and dictatorial backwater or a chaotic, out of control anarchy. Finding that sweet spot and continually adjusting it to meet the current needs of an evolving citizenry is critical for its survival.

I found the book eye opening, very well researched and well written. Highly recommend!

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

KMS

A new framework for bridging our differences

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a revolutionary book that changed the way I look at the world. It unlocked for me the mystery of the 2016 US presidential election; the culture clashes I've experienced with friends, family, and co-workers; some of my own puzzling behaviors; confusing practices I've observed while traveling, and much more. Michele Gelfand offers a fascinating framework, tightness/looseness, that clarifies so much of what we find perplexing about human behavior. I hope this book opens up a conversation about culture, as it has the power to help us bridge our divides and treat each other with greater empathy.

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. Harrington

A cultural framework to understand our world

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

Rule Makers, Rule Breakers provides an extremely insightful and increasingly important understanding of human cultures. It distills years of scientific research on the cultural differences in the strength of social norms, or tightness-looseness, in a cohesive and engaging way and shows how it informs politics, class differences, workplaces, and other facets of our world. Even more importantly, it shows how this cultural difference springs from the presence (or absence) of environmental instability and threat. If you've ever wondered why some cultural groups are so lax while others are so stringent or why working-class parents often tend to be stricter than middle-class parents, this book holds the answers. Ultimately, the best part of this book is that it provides a cohesive and informative framework for interpreting world events and human behavior that will prove useful for years to come. If you enjoyed Guns, Germs, and Steel or have an appreciation for the topics of social science, history, psychology, or culture, you'll love this book.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Dr. Ian Pitchford

Interesting but weak

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

This seems to be an awful lot of speculation resting on weak empirical and theoretical bases. It always seems to be possible to accommodate the “tight or loose” framework just by altering the level of granularity - from nation state to community to corporation and so forth.

6 people found this helpful

See all reviews