This is the prologue to 'Poles Apart' by Alison Goldsworthy, Laura Osborne and Alexandra Chesterfield – the team behind openDemocracy's 'Changed My Mind' podcast. We're discussing it this month on our book club – follow the link at the bottom of the extract to buy the book, then head over to Facebook to join in the conversation.
At a camp in Lebanon in the 1960s, the psychologist Lutfy Diab sought to recreate one of social psychology’s seminal studies: the ‘Robbers Cave’ experiment. Devised back in 1954 by a husband-and-wife team in America, it had been designed to test the extent to which groups would naturally compete for resources when they were scarce but then co-operate when presented with a shared goal. For his version, Diab mimicked the design of the initial study. He brought together a collection of eleven-year-old Muslim and Christian boys and divided them randomly into two groups. Each chose a name: ‘The Blue Ghosts’ and ‘Red Genies’. The plan was to assess first the two groups’ tendency to compete, and then their ability to co-operate. In the event, though, the experiment never reached phase two. Diab had to abandon the study when the ‘Red Genies’ team stole the pen-knife offered as a prize to the more successful group, and threatened a member of ‘The Blue Ghosts’ with it.
Rather more recently in the United States, three friends were looking for rooms to rent in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a city famous for its steel production, bridges – and universities. Their advertisement on Craigslist gave all the usual details about rent, cleanliness and house rules they desired. It then gave an indication of the sort of flatmates they were hoping to find there. One might have expected a list of desired personal qualities and habits. But apart from a buried reference to cost, the main thrust of the advertisement was as follows: ‘We are all open-minded, fun individuals, are open to all religions, genders, sexual orientations and races. No judgement here! However, we hate Trump.’ Such a sentiment isn’t a one-off. According to a 2019 study among university students in the US, partisan preference is the biggest factor in determining who gets chosen as a room-mate. Students said that they would rather live with someone who was ‘not at all clean and tidy’ or preferred ‘going to bed early’ than someone who supported the opposing party.
