In Groupthink, his final book, the late, eminent journalist and
best-selling author Christopher Booker seeks to identify the hidden key
to understanding much that is disturbing about the world today.
With reference to the ideas of a Yale professor who first identified the
theory and to the writings of George Orwell from whose 'newspeak' the
word was adapted, Booker sheds new light on the remarkable - and
worrying - effects of 'groupthink' and its influence on our society.
Booker defines the three rules of groupthink: the adoption of a common
view or belief not based on objective reality; the establishment of a
consensus of right-minded people, an 'in group'; and the need to treat
the views of anyone who questions the belief as wholly unacceptable. He
shows how various interest groups, journalists and even governments in
the 21st century have subscribed to this way of thinking, with deeply
disturbing results.
As Booker shows, such behaviour has led to a culture of fear, heralded
by countless examples throughout history, from Revolutionary Russia to
Napoleonic France and Hitler's Germany. In the present moment it has
caused countless errors in judgment and the division of society into
highly polarised, oppositional factions. From the behaviour of the
controversial Rhodes Must Fall movement to the sacking of James Damore
of Google, society's attitudes towards gender equality, the Iraq war and
the 'European Dream', careers and lives have been lost as those in the
'in-group' police society with their new form of puritanism.
As Booker argues, only by examining its underlying causes can we
understand the sinister power of groupthink which permeates all aspects
of our lives.
