The Best Articles in Society

A party at the house of a friend, eleven o’clock, on a still-warm evening. A metre away from you, a group of people are chatting animatedly. Someone is telling an anecdote, it might be something about…

A major new report calls on humanity to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises simultaneously. Here's what that might look like.

«HUMANITY IS STRUGGLING to contain two compounding crises: skyrocketing global temperatures and plummeting biodiversity. But people tend to tackle each problem on its own»

Teen girls have unique needs and experiences that are often left out of our built environment. Explore three projects across the world as they share how they are transforming public spaces for teen…

Misguided assumptions about race are going mainstream, but hard facts can help you combat entrenched attitudes

The notion that they can follow their own standards overlooks the need for universally accepted norms to sustain world order.

Our constant need for entertainment has blurred the line between fiction and reality—on television, in American politics, and in our everyday lives.

«“The propagandist’s purpose,” Aldous Huxley observed, “is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”»

Bonhoeffer's "theory of stupidity" posits that we have more to fear from stupidity than evil. The latter is easier to defeat than the former.

«onhoeffer’s argument is that the more someone becomes part of the establishment, the less an individual they become»

The first time I recognized that my body should be controlled was when I was eleven or twelve years old. Thanks to some particularly nasty asthma medication, my body was already well on the “after”…

We publish articles around emotional education: calm, fulfilment, perspective and self-awareness. | How the Modern World Makes Us Mentally Ill — Read now

Millennials lag other generations at saving for retirement, and with entitlements faltering, there are worries they won't be able to retire.

Today, people talk about seeing a therapist like they’re going to the dentist. But our compassion around mental health still excludes the people who need it most

«In mental health discourse, there is a strong underlying message that mental health is one’s own responsibility (self-care, expensive therapy, psychiatric intervention, and so on) and that mental unwellness—including mental illness—is something to be overcome, followed by a return to productivity within a capitalist world.»

A new report suggests the kids aren't alright.

Despite the constant stream of bad news we see in the media, the reality is that living standards have improved dramatically across time.

What’s a car for? Transportation. With reliability. Status. A transaction with the bank. A transaction with the dealer. Your relationship with the neighbors. A statement about your style and …

This week, the world's population ticks over a historic milestone. But in the next century, society will be reshaped dramatically — and soon we'll hit a decline we'll never reverse.

Jonathan Haidt thinks so. I’m not so sure.

«Still, looking around today, I don’t see quite as much bleakness as Haidt seems to see. And one reason, I think, is that I don’t see the causes of our current troubles as being quite as novel as he does. We’ve been here before, and humankind survived.»

It is enormously empowering – even intoxicating – to lose yourself to a crowd. That is why we need contrarians

Everyone from Silicon Valley billionaires to self-help enthusiasts is repurposing Stoicism for our modern age, with results that are good, bad, and highly indifferent.

«Things like “wake up early,” “go for a walk,” “journal,” “eat well,” “read,” and “get active” are good pieces of advice, but surely not specifically Stoic behaviors. »

The global 14th-century map would be unrecognizable to the eyes of today. Empires and states were thriving in Africa and Asia, while the so-called “Old Continent” was of much lesser significance.