Churn - The Tension That Divides Us and How to Overcome It

A pioneer of social psychology, Claude M. Steele is renowned for Whistling Vivaldi, a bestseller that analysed societal stereotypes-from beliefs about racial and gender test score gaps to the athletic prowess of Black men-and how to mitigate them. In Churn, he coins a new term to identify "the agitation we can feel in diverse settings", such as everyday exchanges between teachers and students; police and the public; managers and employees; parents and children; and strangers, or even friends, of different sexes and races. Steele braids together psychological research with his own biracial life story, demonstrating how initial wariness between people of different identities is as much a product of our history as of our biases. Through brilliant analysis Churn reveals how trust building can be a fresh and powerful strategy for mitigating these tensions in the real-life settings of our lives and for realising the full potential of a multiracial, multiethnic and multi-classed democracy.

About the author

Claude M. Steele is an American social psychologist and the Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences, Emeritus, at Stanford University. The author of Whistling Vivaldi, he is a member the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He lives in California.

Product details

• Authors: Claude M Steele, Steele Claude M.
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 03.03.2026
• EAN: 9781324093442
• ISBN: 978-1-324-09344-2
• Illustrations: 1 image
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > Social education, social work; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Sociology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, PSYCHOLOGY / Social Psychology, Social, group or collective psychology, Social discrimination & inequality, Ethnic groups and multicultural studies, Ethnic minorities & multicultural studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination, Social discrimination and social justice, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Diversity & Multiculturalism