The Self, the Crowd, and Social Contagion (with Luke Burgis)

Luke Burgis and Russ Roberts explore the tension between individual identity and social pressure. Burgis argues that the real challenge of community isn't finding one but resisting conformity within it, a dynamic rooted in mimetic desire. He warns that the disappearance of traditional rites of passage weakens people's capacity for major life commitments like marriage. Burgis shares his own journey from Wall Street to studying the Great Books in search of a differentiated self, and draws lessons for modern communities from Saint Benedict's 1,500-year-old monastic guide. The conversation also includes a moving personal ritual Burgis practiced with his dying father.