Syed Ali - "The Peer Effect" - Ben Tanzer
Syed Ali will discuss The Peer Effect: How Your Peers Shape Who You Are and Who You Will Become. He will be joined in conversation by Ben Tanzer. A Q&A and signing will follow the discussion.
At the Co-op
RSVP HERE (Please note that your RSVP is requested but not required.)
About the Book: For decades, parents across America have asked their kids, “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” The answer is, “Duh, yes.” Peers, as parents well know, have a tremendous impact on who their kids are and what they will become. And even while they insist otherwise, parents know that they’re largely powerless to change this. The Peer Effect takes readers on a tour of how our peers, and the peer cultures they create, shape our behavior in schools looking at how highly motivated students can create a culture of influence to achieve success in learning and in admission to elite colleges. The book also shows the many other ways that peers can influence one another beyond school performance, from hookup culture to school bullying and youth suicide.
But the effect of peers is not just a story about kids; peers can also affect adult behavior—they affect what we do and who we are well into adulthood. The Peer Effect looks at peer effects in post–high school settings, notably around workplace misconduct, including the steroid culture in baseball and the use of excessive force by the police. The Peer Effect ultimately offers ways to understand the power of peer influence and apply this understanding to resolving issues regarding schools, college graduation rates, workplace culture, and police violence.
About the Author: Syed Ali is a ceramicist and sociologist in Brooklyn. He is the author of Dubai: Gilded Cage, and the co-author of Migration, Incorporation, and Change in an Interconnected World. He was also co-editor of the sociology magazine, Contexts.
About the Interlocutor: Ben Tanzer is an an Emmy-award winning coach, creative strategist, podcaster, writer, teacher and social worker who has been helping nonprofits, publishers, authors, small business and career changers tell their stories for 20 plus years.
Related Titles
How the power of peers and peer culture shapes individual behavior and future success
For decades, parents across America have asked their kids, "If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?" The answer is, "Duh, yes." Peers, as parents well know, have a tremendous impact on...