Book: Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World
Book review: Can Social Networking Cure Social Ills?
Excerpt from book review:
Man, Aristotle said, is by nature a social animal. This is the premise of Tina Rosenberg’s new and important book, “Join the Club,” which examines the idea that human behavior is defined by our relationships with our acquaintances. Peer pressure, she finds, can lead to acts of great courage, or to great harm. But Rosenberg’s particular ambition is to unlock the secret of using it to “transform the world,” in the words of her subtitle. Calling this approach the “social cure,” she examines how social networks can address some of the world’s most recalcitrant problems — from adolescent cigarette smoking to despotism.
The Milgram Effect
The Milgram Experiment explains a lot about peer pressure, since peer groups always have leaders, no matter how informal.