Hillbilly Elegy

You can’t believe these things and
participate meaningfully in society.
Social psychologists have shown that
group belief is a powerful motivator in
performance. When groups perceive that
it’s in their interest to work hard and
achieve things, members of that group
outperform other similarly situated
individuals. It’s obvious why: If you
believe that hard work pays off, then you
work hard; if you think it’s hard to get
ahead even when you try, then why try at
all?
Similarly, when people do fail, this
mind-set allows them to look outward. I
once ran into an old acquaintance at a
Middletown bar who told me that he had