Table of Contents

Introduction: Vulnerable Minds in Charlottesville
1. A Battle Over Reality: Pitching the Social Contract Anew
2. Unlocking the Black Box: Social Neuroscience’s Political Power
3. Shared Vulnerabilities: We All Have Dehumanizing Brains
4. Humanization Duties at Home: Neuropolitical Strategies for Liberal Democracies
5. Humanization Duties Abroad: The Other in a Postcolonial World
Conclusion: Toward a Neuromaterialist Idea of Our Political Selves
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Liya Yu is a visiting fellow at the Institute of Medical Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians University, and in the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University. In fall 2023 she will assume an assistant professorship at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. She holds a doctorate in political science from Columbia University. She is the coeditor (with Matt Qvortrup) of the Routledge Handbook of Neuropolitics (forthcoming 2024).

Reviews

Established systems are rarely challenged by big ideas in the way Yu does in this book. She takes on central concepts that ground our legal and political systems, holds them up to the light of neuroscience and psychology data, and discusses the implications for moving society forward. It is a wonderful example of interdisciplinary scholarship on the brain and society, and prudent reading given humanity’s current crises.
*Lasana Harris, University College London*

This brilliant book will transform the way we think about identity, "race," and the innumerable and persistent conflicts that have been fed by false perceptions of difference between human beings. It is essential reading for everyone interested in resolving one of the central issues of our time.
*David C. Johnston, Columbia University*

Liya Yu’s important book comes at a critical time when our increasingly divided world needs to better understand what brain and behavioral science powerfully tells us about being human. By revealing how our brains navigate our social world and process the experiences of fear, exclusion, and dehumanization, Liya offers us a path informed by science and evidence to create a better world where empathy, understanding, and belonging can be manifested and made real.
*Tim Phillips, founder and CEO of Beyond Conflict*

Liya Yu shows how neuroscience can provide a lingua franca to bridge the mental gap dividing racial, partisan, and ideological groups that are primed to dehumanize the other. Where banalities about tolerance no longer ring true, our 'disillusioned curiosity' can still lead us to understand the workings of our 'exclusionary brains.'
*Jack Snyder, Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations, Columbia University*