Illustration by Wesley Allsbrook September 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 85RADICAL
CHANGE
UNCERTAINTY IN THE WORLD THREATENS OUR SENSE OF SELF.
TO COPE, PEOPLE EMBRACE POPULISMBy Michael A. Hogg
Human societies are constantly rearranging themselves, causing profound
disruptions in our social lives. The industrial revolution of the late 18th and
early 19th century fragmented communities as people moved for work, the
lx`Dā ̧
xÇßxä³îxxDߧāöćî`x³îøßāßx` ̧³øßxl³Dî ̧³äD³l³Dî ̧³D§
identities, and the Great Depression of the 1930s shattered people’s econom-
ic security and future prospects. But we are now in what is perhaps a time
of unprecedented uncertainty. The early 21st century is characterized by rap-
id and overwhelming change: globalization, immigration, technological revo-
lution, unlimited access to information, sociopolitical volatility, the automation
of work and a warming climate.People need to have a firm sense of identity and
their place in the world, and for many the pace and
magnitude of such change can be alienating. This is
because our sense of self is a fundamental organizing
principle for our own perceptions, feelings, attitudes
and actions. Typically it is anchored in our close inter-
personal relationships—our friends, family, partners—and in the variety of social groups and categories that
we belong to and identify with—our nationality, reli-
gion, ethnicity, profession. It allows us to predict with
some confidence how others will view us and treat us.
Imagine navigating all the situations and people we
encounter in day-to-day life while continually feeling
uncertain about who we are, how to behave and howSOCIAL PSYCHOLOGYMichael A. Hogg
is a professor and
chair of social psy-
chology at Claremont
Graduate University
and an honorary pro-
fessor at the Univer-
sity of Kent in England.
He is a former presi-
dent of the Society
of Experimental Social
Psychology, an editor
in chief of the journal
Group Processes &
Intergroup Relations,
and a Fellow of
numerous societies,
including the Associ-
ation for Psychologi-
cal Science.