Prisons We Choose to Live Inside Summary

British-Rhodesian author Doris Lessing’s book Prisons We Choose to Live Inside (1987) is a collection of five essays. These essays explore themes such as society, government, and religion. Lessing is particularly interested in what the "soft sciences"—fields like psychology, sociology, and anthropology—can teach us about human behavior. The essays are written in a conversational style because they were originally delivered as a series of lectures in the 1985 Massey Lectures in Canada.

In the first essay, "When In the Future They Look Back on Us," Lessing tells a story about a farmer and a bull. In her hometown in Rhodesia, a wealthy farmer paid a lot of money for a Scottish bull. However, after the bull killed its caretaker, a young Black boy, the farmer insisted on killing the animal, even though it had cost him a fortune. Lessing compares this decision to another historical event where a tree associated with General Pétain, a French leader convicted of treason, was cut down as a form of punishment. She uses these examples to show how people can act irrationally when faced with intense emotions or crises. Lessing also argues that some people actually enjoy war—a fact that many historians and sociologists do not like to acknowledge. She believes this is one reason why wars continue to happen.

The second essay, "You Are Damned We Are Saved," focuses on cults and brainwashing. Lessing discusses the power of group mentality and shares a story about the 1984 miners' strike in Britain. One miner decided to go back to work because his family was struggling financially. As a result, his house was broken into, and he was physically attacked by people who were once his neighbors and friends. This, Lessing explains, is what happens when people blindly follow a group. She argues that Europe is becoming more divided. For the first time in history, "soft science" departments in universities, like psychology and sociology, are seriously studying human behavior. One of their findings is that British politics no longer consists of just a Left and Right wing but is made up of many different leftist groups. Lessing also reflects on her past as a Communist, explaining that growing up in Rhodesia—a country ruled by a white minority—shaped her political views. Finally, she compares Western churches to Communism, pointing out that both create strict divisions among people who should, in theory, be united.

The third essay, "Switching Off to See 'Dallas,'" explores the influence of mass media and group psychology. Lessing talks about how the U.S. government started studying brainwashing techniques during the Korean War. She argues that all of us are brainwashed by society in different ways. She identifies three key techniques of brainwashing: creating tension, using repetition, and simplifying complex ideas into catchy slogans. She uses the elections of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher as examples, arguing that their campaigns were shaped by media influence.

Lessing also shares an interesting experiment conducted by a university researcher. He found that he could completely change a person's mindset—whether they were a Seventh-Day Adventist, a Communist, a Liberal, an atheist, or a feminist—within just a week. Another point Lessing makes is that the media can exaggerate or downplay events, which affects public perception. For example, people were largely unaware of a famine in Afghanistan, but the famine in Ethiopia received widespread attention simply because the media covered it more. Lessing also notes that people in free societies are more likely to laugh at themselves, whereas dictators and oppressive leaders do not have a sense of humor. She praises a method used in ancient societies, where secret inspectors monitored government officials—a system she thinks was quite effective in holding leaders accountable.

In the fourth essay, "Group Minds," Lessing argues that democratic societies should teach their citizens about group psychology. She describes a psychological experiment where participants were placed in a situation that tested their willingness to follow orders. A group was instructed to gradually increase their volume of screams, while an individual was told to press a button to administer an electric shock. Even though they believed they were causing harm, the individuals followed orders and increased the shock level up to a dangerous 450 volts, simply because they were told to. This demonstrates how easily people obey authority, even when it goes against their morals.

Lessing shares another experiment where researchers pretended to be mentally ill and checked themselves into psychiatric hospitals. Surprisingly, the doctors and nurses believed them, but the actual patients could tell they were not truly ill. However, the researchers found that they were treated differently by both staff and patients, illustrating how labels and group perceptions shape behavior.

In the final essay, "Laboratories of Social Change," Lessing discusses the value of studying history and literature instead of only focusing on technical subjects. She argues that history and literature help us understand the deeper causes of social issues, which tend to repeat over time. She also talks about the importance of education, emphasizing that children perform better when their teachers have high expectations for them.

Lessing ends the book on an optimistic note, suggesting that modern societies, including the Soviet Union and China, are becoming more open-minded. Throughout these essays, Lessing blends personal experience with historical analysis. She seeks to find universal truths about different political and social systems, such as socialism, communism, capitalism, and democracy. Her perspective is shaped by her upbringing in Rhodesia, and she draws from a wide range of historical and psychological studies to support her ideas. In 2007, at the age of eighty-eight, Lessing was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for her contributions to literature and thought.