Sebastian Junger + Dr. Hector A. Garcia

Partisanship has a profound impact on our political system, and deep roots in the human psyche. Our instinct to belong to small groups defined by a common purpose brings communities together—but can also pit them against one another. What solutions are there for rising above our ancestral past?

Clinical psychologist Dr. Hector A. Garcia studies the relationship between partisanship, power, and sex. He posits that our political orientations derive from an ancestral history of violent male competition, which influences how we respond to such politically divisive issues as equal rights, social welfare, and the climate crisis. He is joined by author Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm, Tribe) to discuss how our instinctive political tribalism keeps us from achieving stable, functioning societies.

A book signing for Sex, Power, and Partisanship: How Evolutionary Science Makes Sense of Our Political Divide (Hector Garcia) and Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (Sebastian Junger) follows the program.

About the Speakers

Sebastian Junger is the number 1 New York Times bestselling author of War (2010), The Perfect Storm (1997), Fire (2001), and A Death in Belmont (2006). On his most recent book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, the New York Times reviewed, “Junger has raised one of the most provocative ideas of this campaign season—and accidentally written one of its most intriguing political books.” Together with Tim Hetherington, he directed the Academy Award”“nominated film Restrepo, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and has been awarded a National Magazine Award and an SAIS Novartis Prize for journalism. He lives in New York City.

Hector A. Garcia, Psy.D., is the author of Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression. He is an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and a clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. He has published extensively on evolutionary psychology, stress and politics in organizations, and the interplay between war and masculine identity. His latest book is Sex, Power, and Partisanship: How Evolutionary Science Makes Sense of Our Political Divide is published this February by Prometheus Books.