This is a very informative book about cultural histories and how social norms shape so much of our identities and lives. I found the book well-structured, well-researched, and useful in understanding some of the daily divides that separate us as individuals and as groups. Given the breadth of the subject matter, it would be impossible to get too detailed or prescriptive and, thankfully, Gelfand does not attempt to do either of those. But she gives us all a new framework with which to think some of these things through. And that's probably why I enjoyed it even more -- plenty of food for thought.

In RULE MAKERS, RULE BREAKERS author Michelle Gelfand, an award-winning professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, builds on earlier work to explore ideas of cultural norms. In a 2011 study, she and colleagues investigated the behaviors of some 7,000 people in more than 30 countries. In conjunction with other work, that led to her tightness vs. looseness system for classifying cultures. For example, she argues that tightness is shown in Singapore's strong social norms against littering or jaywalking whereas the United States would generally be much more permissive (looser) with respect to those actions. She also writes accessibly about happiness and the quest to maximize societal well-being through a balance of tight-loose constraints. Another interesting discussion parallels recent headlines and focuses on the dilemma posed by the Internet: "we need to have loose mindsets to adapt to technology, yet we need tighter norms to regulate the destructive, normless, and fear-mongering behavior that it enables."

RULE MAKERS, RULE BREAKERS is divided into three parts (labeled Foundations, Analysis, and Applications); plus, it contains extensive source notes (almost 40% of the text) which will contribute to its usefulness for our psychology, history and/or geography classes.

As an academic librarian familiar with some of the extensive and robust empirical research engagingly summarized and synthesized by cross cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand, as well as having been the shipboard librarian for a fairly recent Semester At Sea voyage, I highly recommend this widely accessible and absorbing book about how dynamic tensions between "tight" and "loose" normative orders helpfully illuminate cultural differences among and within countries (such as those among states and regions of the U.S.), business organizations, as well as throw insightful light on attitude differences about norms among and within individuals down to the intimate scale of romantic relationships.. Definitely a book which belongs in every academic and public library, and I'll ensure its availability from a library at sea around the world!

This is an interesting and informative book. If you enjoy books that explore culture, social psychology and human behavior while successfully avoiding being too heavy or abstruse you will enjoy Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World. Cultural psychologist and author Michele Gelfand has spent more than 20 years studying and researching culture in over fifty countries. She provides entertaining insight and explanatory studies revealing the curious and compelling reasons individuals may think and act as they do - and the reasons might just surprise you!