Status, reputation and conspiracy theories – Storr and Raihani

Will Storr, the author of The Status Game, has chronicled the history of the Western individualist self in Selfie and what leads people to believe the unbelievable in The Heretics.

Nichola Raihani, an evolutionary biologist, explores what humans and other species have in common, and in The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World, she shows how humans are not unique in their ability to operate in complex social groups.

In this episode, Storr and Raihani combine their diverse approaches to discuss the psychology of status, and examine why people believe in conspiracy theories. At a time of heightened individualism and division, they also reveal how cooperation is part of our history and how now, more than ever, it will come to define our future.