Podcast Summary

Podcast: Call Me Back – with Dan Senor
Guest: Scott Galloway
Episode: Scott Galloway on Being Young, Male... And Jewish
Date: November 27, 2025
Host: Dan Senor (Ark Media)
Theme: Exploring the challenges and dilemmas facing young men in the West—especially Jews—post October 7, community, masculinity, and Jewish identity.

Episode Overview

This episode features NYU Stern professor, entrepreneur, and best-selling author Scott Galloway in conversation with Dan Senor. The discussion is anchored in themes from Galloway’s new book Notes on Being a Man, weaving in his personal journey, reflections on masculinity and purpose, societal trends among young men, the role of community, Israel and Jewish identity, and the post-October 7 climate for Jews globally.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Success, Setbacks, and Unexpected Paths

• Podcast popularity and live events: Galloway and Senor reflect on how podcasting has become a surprising cultural and social touchpoint.
• Trajectory of success: Galloway shares his own journey, marked by an initial meteoric rise, a difficult middle stretch, and eventual renewed success—“After working my ass off for 35 years, I'm an overnight success.” (06:08)

2. The State of Young Men in Western Society

Sociological Forces & Declining Opportunity

• Postwar period (1945–2000) gave extraordinary, if unexamined, privilege to white, heterosexual men.
• "Relationships have become a luxury item...the opportunity to mate and procreate...has become a luxury item." (11:00)
• Young people today face sharply worsened economic realities; the average person under 40 is 24% less wealthy than previous generations.
• Male economic (and thus social and romantic) viability has collapsed; education gaps favor women, leading to pessimism and loneliness among men.
• "We end up with one in three boys under the age of or men under 25 living at home. One in five men at 30 are still living at home." (14:25)

Tech, Social Media, and Isolation

• Big Tech’s business model exploits and perpetuates the weaknesses of the “immature male brain.”
• Online life, video games, and polarized social media replace traditional venues for socializing, achievement, and purpose.

3. "Deaths of Despair” and Crisis among Young Men

Definition: Suicides, overdoses, alcoholism, and related fatalities.

• "The increase in deaths of despair in men over the last 20 years has taken more male lives than World War II." (15:25)
• Links hopelessness, economic ruin, and social disconnection with devastating health and lifestyle outcomes: addiction, obesity, isolation, and early death.
• Society lacks empathy for contemporary men, viewing their malaise as deserved due to historic male privilege.

4. Modern Masculinity: Memoir over Manifesto

• Galloway’s book is intentionally personal, not academic—a record of successes and failures, lessons for his sons, rather than anthropological treatise.
• "[My agent said], you do have an ability to talk about your own life experiences in a very raw, authentic way and set it against the context of trying to become a man." (18:51)

5. The Power of Fraternity, Friendship, and the "Warrior” Archetype

• Fraternity life: Provided Galloway with mentorship, structure, accountability, and purpose—a contrast to the caricatured image of “Animal House” mayhem.
  • "When you join a fraternity, you become twice less likely to drop out. You kind of have your people." (24:24)
  • Risks present (hazing, partying, racism) but outweighed by the dangers of isolation.
• Warrior spirit: Physical strength, perseverance, and embracing competition/struggle are beneficial for personal development if positively channeled.
  • "My advice to young men is, under the age of 30, you're gonna...wish you turned yourself into just a fucking monster. The strength you can acquire...it's just a marvel." (27:10)
• Aggression modulated: Sports can teach discipline, controlled aggression, and respect for opponents.

6. Friendship and Social Networks

• "If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and have friends...you're going to live longer if you smoke a pack a day and have friends." (32:07)
• Friendships are central to career success and happiness; men, especially isolated ones, often lack deep friendships.
• Modern life (remote work, decline in religious participation) has stripped away many venues for forming bonds.

7. Mothers, Fathers, and Role Models

• Galloway’s relationship with his single mother is foundational for his self-worth and confidence.
• Notable quote: "Anytime anything good happened to me, I called my mom right away, because you can brag to your mom, right?" (36:15)
• Loss of male role models is a critical risk for boys; boys in single-mother homes face much steeper challenges than girls in similar households.

8. Jewish Upbringing, Lost Connection, and October 7

• Galloway grew up atheist; mother was Jewish but faith was cultural/intellectual rather than religious.
• Fraternity experience reinforced ambition, community—attributes he associates with Jewish life, even if he missed the spiritual connection.
• "I've never...felt much connection to Judaism. But what I picked up on was...rabbis really loved ideas...and I was very interested in that." (40:53)

9. Post-October 7: Antisemitism, Campuses, and Israel

• Surge in antisemitism and anti-Israel activism on campuses; much of it is a distorted search for meaning, purpose, and ideological "oppressed/oppressor" binaries.
• Jews are miscast as "the richest, the whitest people on the planet"—the campus ecosystem creates a sanctioned outlet for anti-Jewish sentiment.
• "If I found a group of students at UCLA in the 80s to pass out bands only to white kids and not to non-whites...that would have been shut down so fast. But instead there was a need for nuance and context." (46:47)
• Critiques both Israel’s current government and broader Western/Eastern media for dramatic misrepresentations of the conflict.

10. Community: The Key to Resilience and Survival

• Critical Jewish principle: communal belonging is not transactional—it’s about unconditional ties and support.
• Senor: "When you go to synagogue...you're not sitting there next to the person...and thinking about like do they work at Goldman Sachs...They're just part of your community." (51:26)
• Galloway regrets not passing on more connection to his own children and aims now to expose them to Israel—"Because what I find is...if you're not in the game and advocating for us, we're going away...it's not going to take a lot to take out 0.2% of the population." (52:38, 54:01)

11. Public/National Service as a Remedy

• National service (not just military) for young people would provide:
  • Purpose, structure, and environments that cross class, ethnic, and religious lines.
  • Best odds for friendships, teamwork, and post-adolescent success.
• "If I could pass any one thing, if I had the magic wand, it would be mandatory national service for our young men and women." (57:51)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Scott Galloway on modern masculinity:
  “I feel like the economy has now attached to one objective...to take advantage of the immature male brain and evolve an asocial, asexual species of young men.” (13:32)

• On deaths of despair:
  “The increase in deaths of despair...has taken more male lives than WWII.” (15:25)

• On Jewish survival:
  “2 billion Muslims, 1.2 billion Catholics...and 15 million Jews. It's like if you're not...advocating for us, we're going away. It’s not about ideology, it’s about numbers.” (54:01)

• On fraternity’s impact:
  “When you join a fraternity, you become twice less likely to drop out...You need to find your people.” (24:24, 24:39)

• On Israel post-October 7:
  “A group of people butchered a group of Israelis, and the whole world sort of said...well, you know, maybe they had a point.” (48:10)

• On national service:
  “I think a structured environment with, around other people, high expectations, wake up early, work hard...The real free gift with purchase here is America's been so frayed that we have to get back to a point where people think of themselves as Americans before they think of themselves as Republican or Democrat or gay or whatever.” (57:51)

Important Timestamps

• 08:33 – Launching into the crisis of masculinity
• 09:16–15:06 – Evolution of societal trends for men (education, economics, big tech)
• 15:06–18:16 – “Deaths of despair” in men
• 18:51–21:00 – Galloway’s memoiristic approach to his book
• 23:18–27:03 – Fraternities, mentorship, and belonging
• 27:03–31:09 – “Warrior” philosophy and channeling aggression
• 32:07–36:01 – Friendship, career, and happiness
• 36:01–39:07 – Importance of mothers, challenges for boys without fathers
• 39:07–41:53 – Galloway’s Jewish background and fraternity experience
• 43:14–50:42 – Campus antisemitism, Jewish identity, and Israel’s perception
• 51:26–54:01 – Meaning of Jewish community, transmitting connection to the next generation
• 55:37–59:08 – National service as a solution for youth malaise

The Episode’s Tone

• Honest, reflective, and nuanced; Galloway is candid about his own flaws, struggles, and insecurities, both personal and collective.
• Senor maintains a tone of probing warmth, urging a search for solidarity and practical solutions.
• Both speakers combine seriousness with humor, never shying from controversy or self-deprecation.

Final Takeaway

This episode provides a sweeping, personal, and societal exploration: The challenges of being a young man (and a young Jew), the search for meaning in perilous times, the essentiality of community, and why, even—or especially—when feeling ambivalent about faith or politics, maintaining and transmitting a sense of belonging and shared responsibility is crucial for both individuals and for the future of the Jewish people.

For listeners interested in deeper themes of masculinity, modern Jewish identity, community, and social cohesion—especially in a time of global upheaval—this episode brings both insight and inspiration.