Ep 351 - Born on Third Base with Steve Hall

Oct 25, 2025

Steve Hall, an Emeritus Professor of Criminology and polymath author, joins the discussion to dismantle the myth of the self-made person. He traces the roots of individualism back to the 12th century's primogeniture, revealing how it has framed the American Dream as a gamble. Hall argues that this mindset fosters a zero-sum mentality where success is viewed through a lottery lens. He emphasizes the need for a more emotionally resonant narrative to counter entrenched beliefs and discusses how competition undermines collective solidarity.

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INSIGHT

Possessive Individualism Shapes Belief

Possessive individualism frames people as wholly self-made and responsible for all success and failure.
This cultural myth underpins political attitudes that discourage collective claims on institutions.

INSIGHT

The Rise Of A Zero-Sum Mindset

A zero-sum mindset has grown over the last 40–50 years, turning social relations into competitive games.
Economists and psychologists link this mindset to risk-averse, winner-focused behavior that fuels neoliberal dynamics.

INSIGHT

Medieval Law Shaped Modern Individualism

Primogeniture in 12th-century England weakened family collectivism and pushed people into competitive urban life.
That legal shift seeded long-term cultural norms of individualism and rivalry for inheritance.

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"The self-made man is a lie that we have taught people to keep them from complaining, to keep them from whining, to keep them from asking for better from their government, to keep them from asking for better from their employer."

The two Steves – Hall and Grumbine – get together to dismantle the myth of the self-made man, exposing it as a centuries-old political weapon designed to disempower the working class.

Professor Hall traces the roots of this "possessive individualism" back centuries, saying it is not a recent neoliberal invention but a deeply embedded cultural force with origins in changes in English law, specifically the spread of primogeniture (inheritance by the first-born son) in the 12th century. He goes on to explain the consequences of these historical events.

The conversation reframes the American Dream as a form of mass gambling. Despite overwhelming evidence that most people fail, the system encourages a zero-sum mindset where we focus on the lottery-like winners.

The Steves agree that facts alone won't break this spell. They discuss the need for a new emotionally compelling narrative that counters the right's fear-mongering.

Steve Hall is Emeritus Professor of Criminology at the University of Teesside. He is a polymath who has published in the fields of criminology, sociology, anthropology, history, economic history, political theory and philosophy. He is also co-author of Violent Night (Berg 2006, with Simon Winlow), Rethinking Social Exclusion (Sage 2013, with Simon Winlow), Riots and Political Protest (Routledge 2015, with Simon Winlow, James Treadwell and Daniel Briggs), Revitalizing Criminological Theory (Routledge 2015, with Simon Winlow), The Rise of the Right (with Simon Winlow and James Treadwell) and The Death of the Left (with Simon Winlow). He is co-editor of New Directions in Criminological Theory (Routledge 2012, with Simon Winlow). In 2017 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the international Extreme Anthropology Research Network at the University of Vienna.

@ProfHall1955 on X