Michele Gelfand is the John H. Scully Professor of cross-cultural management and professor of organizational behavior and psychology at Stanford University. She uses field, experimental, computational and neuroscience methods to understand the evolution of culture and its multilevel consequences. She is the author of Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire the World.
Loose cultures prize individual liberty. This trait works well until society-wide threats—like COVID—arise. Here’s how loose societies can maximize liberty and safety in the face of a future crisis.
Research on tight and loose cultures helps reveal why societies differ on concepts like openness and order.