The Psychology of Purity

For most of history, societies have been held together by a shared moral code. But half a century ago, the West embarked on a great experiment: a move from "We" to "I," from "We're all in this together" to "I'm free to be myself." Recently, there's been a reaction against individualism in favour of the group. But what's returned isn't a sense of society as a whole, but rather, subgroups, defined by faith, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. What's lost, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks argues, is our sense of collective belonging and the common good.

Contributors: Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University; Robert Putnam, Political scientist and Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University; Students from Loreto College in Manchester.

Producer: Dan Tierney Series Editor: Christine Morgan