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VOLUME 5 (2003), ISSUE 9 (SUMMER), EDITORIAL
THE DESTRUCTION OF SOCIETY. Challenging the "Modern" Tryptique: Individualism, Hedonism, ConsumeriSM
PATRICK
HUNOUT,
DIDIER
LE
GALL
&
BRENT
SHEA
Patrick
HUNOUT
is
the
President
and
Founder
of The
International
Scope® Review and The
Social
Capital
Foundation.
Didier LE GALL is a Founding Member of The Social Capital Foundation.
Brent SHEA is a TISR Executive Editorial Board Member and Professor of Sociology at Sweet Briar College, Virginia, USA.
Dear readers,
This
is
TISR
9th
issue,
devoted
to
the
publication
of
part
I of
a
new
anthology,
The
Erosion
of
the
Social
Link
in
the
Economically
Advanced
Countries,
edited
by
Patrick
Hunout
between
2000
and
2003.
It
attempts
to
offer
a
global
overview
of
the
contemporary
social
crisis,
its
roots,
causes,
forms,
and
remedies. Our
societies,
in
effect,
seem
to
all
correspond
to
the
figure
of a
“depressed”
society,
where
most
indicators
of
ill-being,
such
as
suicides,
psychic
disorders,
divorce
and
loneliness,
and
the
like,
are
widespread
and
increasing.
The
social
link,
or
in
other
words,
what
keeps
us
together
within
society,
is
suffering
from
the
contemporary
developments,
as
if a
centrifugal
force
was
exerting
its
effects
on
the
members
of
this
society
and
keeping
them
away
from
one
another,
either
in
terms
of
personal
relationships
or
in
terms
of
collective
energy
and
capacity
for
action.
The American Paradox as a universal Western paradigm
What researcher David G. Myers called “the American paradox” can be easily extended to all economically advanced countries, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Northern and Western European countries, and Japan (No doubt similar developments also can be expected in the very near future in countries that have been considered more “traditional” but that are now “catching up” with the West, like the East European countries, Ireland, and some Mediterranean countries). Myers defines this paradox in this way: “We now have doubled real incomes and double what money buys. We have espresso coffee, the World Wide Web, sport utility vehicles, and caller ID. And we have less happiness, more depression, more fragile relationships, less communal commitment, less vocational security, more crime, and more demoralized children”. On the one hand, there has been a prodigious increase in the wealth produced, even though one can state that this increase did not benefit all categories of people equally. On the other hand, there has been an erosion of the link that keeps us together within society. Myers said that a very “social recession” coexists with the relative “economic expansion”. We are better paid, better fed, better housed, better educated, healthier than ever before, we have faster communication and more convenient transportation than we have ever known, and our average disposable income in constant currency is more than double that of the mid-1950s. This enables us to have, among other accouterments of an unprecedented wealth that has been multiplied, twice as many cars per person today as then and to eat out two and half times as often. From 1900 to the present, life expectancy has risen from 47 to 76 years. However, from 1960 until the early 2000’s, our countries slid into a deepening social recession that dwarfed the comparatively briefer economic recessions that often dominate news and politics. Since 1960, the divorce rate has doubled, the teen suicide rate has tripled, the recorded violent crime rate has quadrupled, the prison population has quintupled, the percent of babies born from unmarried parents has sextupled, cohabitation (a predictor of future divorce) has increased sevenfold, depression has soared - to ten times the pre-World War II level, by one estimate. The American National Commission on Civic Renewal combined social trends such as these in creating its 1998 “Index of National Civic Health” - which has plunged since 1960.
Problems seem to be concentrated particularly among youth. Writing with Elizabeth Gilman, Yale psychologist Edward Ziegler reported a consensus among researchers: in the past 30 years of monitoring the indicators of child well-being, never have the indicators looked so negative. In 1960, just over 1 to 10 children did not live with two parents. Today, a third do not. American Psychological Association members rated the decline of the “nuclear family” as today’s number one threat to mental health.
The Decline of Social Capital in the Western Countries
The
concept
of
“Social
Capital”
is
another
way
to
formulate
the
problem.
Social
Capital
has
been
theorized
about
by a
long
list
of
scholars,
from
Emile
Durkheim
to
Ferdinand
Tönnies,
Pierre
Bourdieu,
Robert
Putnam,
Robert
Bellah,
Francis
Fukuyama,
and
others.
The
famous
sociologist
Pierre
Bourdieu
(a
former
member
of
the TISR
Editorial
Advisory
Board)
showed
that
“social”
capital
has
to
be
distinguished
from
other
sorts
of
capital,
such
as
“economic”
and
“cultural”
capital.
The
definition
used
here
is:
social
capital
is
an
instantiated
informal
norm
that
promotes
cooperation
between
individuals,
according
to a
definition
by
Fukuyama.
Robert
Putnam,
Dillon
Professor
and
Director
of
the
Center
for
International
Affairs
at
Harvard
University,
fed
a
debate
on
the
erosion
of
social
capital
in
the
US
in
an
article
published
in
1995
called
“Bowling
Alone”,
and
later
in
his
book
Bowling
Alone:
The
Collapse
and
Revival
of
American
Community.
Are
people
(here,
Americans)
losing
their
social
bonds,
why
does
it
matter,
and
what
has
to
be
done?
True,
practically
nobody
bowls
alone,
nor
does
Putnam
claim
they
do.
What
he
does
show
is
that
people
who
used
to
join
bowling
leagues
have,
in
recent
years,
dropped
out
and
instead
simply
bowl
with
friends.
And
the
same
holds
for
membership
in
practically
all
other
voluntary
associations. For
his
book,
Putnam
collected
a
vast
array
of
data
to
support
his
two
points:
participation
has
dwindled
in
almost
every
activity,
and
the
fraying
social
fabric
imposes
heavy
costs:
the
fewer
our
social
bonds
are,
the
more
likely
we
will
suffer
from
depression,
nervousness,
and
other
health
problems.
We
also
will
be
more
likely
not
to
vote,
not
to
trust
our
neighbors,
to
sue
and
so
on -
quite
a
list. Some
of
Putnam’s
data-based
observations
are
summarized
below:
Mutatis mutandis, similar remarks can be made about other economically advanced countries. Perhaps the traditional forms of civic organization whose decay we have been tracing have been replaced by vibrant new organizations, but these new mass-membership organizations, from the point of view of social connectedness, are different from classic "secondary associations". For the vast majority of their members, the only act of membership consists in writing a check for dues or reading a newsletter. Yet, many students of the new democracies that have emerged over the past decade and a half have emphasized the importance of a strong and active civil society for the consolidation of democracy. Especially with regard to the post-communist countries, scholars and democratic activists alike have lamented the absence or obliteration of traditions of independent civic engagement and a widespread tendency toward passive reliance on the state. To those concerned with the weakness of civil societies in the developing or post-communist world, the advanced Western democracies have typically been taken as models to be emulated. There is striking evidence, however, that the vibrancy of Western civil societies has notably declined over the past several decades. In Europe, the EU tries to impose its “social model” on the former soviet Eastern countries, but this model is eroding within the Western part of the EU itself.
Which
are
the
causes
of
the
current
social
crisis?
Many
of
us
did
not
need
Putnam’s
research
to
experience
the
difficulty
that
one
nowadays
has
to
mobilize
people
within
movements
or
projects
oriented
towards
the
good
of
the
community.
Most
political
parties,
unions,
and
associations
have
difficulties
keeping
their
members,
even
in
the
countries
that
have
less
individualistic
cultures,
such
as
Germany
and
Japan.
It
is
all
the
more
difficult
when
these
organizations
are
not
yet
established,
but
are
still
to
be
launched.
Aspiration
to
change
does
exist,
but
few
are
those
who
actually
are
willing
to
invest
their
energy
or
financial
means;
mistrust
and
fear
of
taking
risks
dominate
their
feelings
and
behaviors. If
social
capital
is
an
instantiated
norm,
a
set
of
norms
or
mental
attitudes
underlying
actual
behaviors,
it
follows
that
the
manifestations
of
the
decline
of
social
capital
in
our
countries
derives
from
the
transformation
of
these
norms
and
attitudes.
The
erosion
of
the
social
link
–
and
beyond
that,
the
erosion
of
underlying
social
capital
–
must
therefore
be
analyzed
in
terms
of systems
of
values.
The
less
the
systems
of
values
include
social
capital,
the
less
they
will
induce
actual
behaviors
likely
to
strengthen
the
social
bond.
Radical
individualism
is
familiar
in
contemporary
values.
“Do
your
own
thing”,
“Seek
you
own
bliss”,
“Challenge
authority”,
“If
it
feels
good,
do
it”,
“Shun
conformity”,
“Don’t
force
your
values
on
others”,
“Assert
your
personal
rights”,
“Protect
your
privacy”,
“Cut
taxes
and
raise
executive
pay”
(personal
income
takes
priority
over
the
common
good),
“To
love
others,
first
love
yourself”,
“Listen
to
your
own
heart”,
“Prefer
solo
spirituality
to
communal
religion”,
“Be
self-sufficient”,
“Expect
others
likewise
to
believe
in
themselves
and
to
make
it
on
their
own…”:
such
slogans
define
the
heart
of
social
individualism,
which
finds
its
peak
expression
in
the
contemporary
Western
countries.
They
encourage
people
to
think
that
they
can
find
happiness
and
self-accomplishment
WITHOUT
the
community,
instead
of
finding
them
WITHIN
the
community.
Paradoxically,
however,
it
seems
difficult
even
for
the
most
reclusive
personalities
to
find
happiness
without
some
sort
of
harmonious
interaction
with
the
others.
But
for
today’s
radical
individualism,
we
pay
a
price:
a
social
recession
that
imperils
children,
corrodes
civility,
and
diminishes
happiness.
When
individualism
is
taken
to
an
extreme,
individuals
become
its
ironic
casualties. This
is
notably
the
thesis
of
the
Communitarian
movement.
In
1991,
the
press
started
referring
to
Dr
Etzioni,
a
George
Washington
University
professor,
as
the
“guru”
of
the
Communitarian
movement.
Etzioni
was influenced
by
ideas
drawn
from
the
traditional
German
community
spirit,
defended
notably
in The
Limits
of
Privacy (New
York,
Basic
Books,
1999),
The
Spirit
of
Community:
Rights,
Responsibilities,
and
the
Communitarian
Agenda
(New
York,
Crown
Books,
1993),
and The
Moral
Dimension:
Toward
a
New
Economics
(New
York,
Free
Press,
1988)
that
the
tension
between
personal
privacy
and
the
common
good
should
be
diminished
through
a
limitation
on
the
importance
of
individualism.
A second important element is based on the concept that self-accomplishment and happiness are to be found in pleasure. This is the HEDONIC component of contemporary morality. This covers sexual pleasure, as shown by the success in the 1970’s of the novel Emmanuelle (and its cinematic derivatives), by Emmanuelle Arsan, for which an unrestricted sexuality was becoming an honor, not a shame - inverting traditional values. In this culture, personal attractiveness and youth become capital values (see, e.g., French novelist Michel Houellebecq, such as Les Particules Elémentaires and L’Extension du Domaine de la Lutte). Consuming goods can be also a source of this pleasure that is supposed to guarantee happiness - in opposition to the sterner former morality, which insisted on the accomplishment of duties and responsibilities, on work and constructive values. Of course, the Communitarian Movement was also on the track as it suggested balancing individual rights with responsibilities.
A
third
major
component
of
contemporary
Western
morality
is
CONSUMERISM.
A
lot
has
been
said
about
the
society
of
consumption.
Control
over
others,
through
processes
of
possession,
domination,
and
seduction,
are
the
main
mechanisms
at
work
here.
Possessing
material
goods
(or
the
wealth
that
allows
possession
of
them)
is
supposed
to
be
the
natural
aim
of
human
action,
and
the
sole
source
of
prestige,
respect
and
social
status.
This
is
of
course
encouraged
by
advertising
and
marketing
campaigns,
that
sometimes
run
very
deep,
such
as
those
purveyed
by
the
automotive
industry.
In
some
cases,
one
can
observe
people
who
withdraw
from
business
and
worldly
preoccupations,
and
turn
towards
the
wisdom
of
India
or
other
far
East
countries
where
spirituality
is
still
rooted
in
the
culture.
(Gandhi
had
well
defined
Indian
identity
as a
spiritual
one,
opposed
to
Western
“materialism”.)
This
is a
reaction
against
the
excesses
of
the
POSSESSION
values,
for
which
this
wisdom
substitutes
DETACHMENT.
In
general,
as
James
Redfield rightly
observed,
spiritual
consciousness
and
preoccupations
are
progressing
significantly
in
the
Western
countries,
in a
way
or
another,
as
one
can
see
through
the
clothing
or
hairstyle
fashions,
musical
trends,
or
trendy
restaurant
decor,
which
express
the
fascination
that
Westerners
feel
for
the
spiritual
far
East.
Our
TISR
MODEL,
elaborated
by Dr Patrick
Hunout
in
the
years
1995-1996,
constitutes
an
attempt
to
reach
global
understanding
of
the
current
transformations
occurring
in
our
contemporary
societies.
The
second
diagram
of
the
model
suggests
the
consistency
that
exists
between
three
dimensions
of
the
“New
Leviathan’s”
policy:
economic
flexibility
that
produces
precariousness,
immigration
that
produces
anomie,
and
individualism
that
produces
a
cellular,
atomistic
society.
These
three
trends
contribute
to
further
destruction
of
the
social
link.
Going
back
to
the
new
morality,
it
is
remarkable
that
it
closely
corresponds
to
the
basic
interests
of
the
“New
Leviathan”:
individualism
helps
develop
“autonomous”
and
“proactive”
individuals,
whose
behaviors
adapt
in a
quicker
and
easier
way
to
economic
and technological
changes,
and
whose
sophisticated
tastes
(presented as a
way
to
“personal
identity”)
allow
some
outlet
for
innovative,
although
often
useless,
products.
Individualism
helps
destroy
the
ancestral
community
links,
facilitating
the
recourse
to
peopling
mass
immigration
that
emphasizes
class
inequalities
and
favors
authoritarian
governance
of
society;
in
turn,
multiethnicity
breaks
further
the
ancestral
community
links,
and contributes
to strengthening
atomistic
individualism
that
becomes
the
only
way
to
survive
in a
society
deprived
of a
collective
project. In
the
heart
of
the
quest
for
the
“self”
that
contemporary
individuals
believe
to
be a
process
that
frees
them
from
the
weight
of
societal
and
family
constraints
hides
a
new,
infinitely
subtle
form
of
slavery.
The
developments
we
portray
above
may
characterize
some
adaptations
of
all
economically
advanced
societies
over
the
last
decades.
It
is
all
the
more
crucial
to
identify
what
they
have
in
common,
and
examine
causes,
consequences,
and
remedies.
The
chapter
by
Scott,
Deane
and
Ciarocchi
bears
on
the
increase
in
suicides:
Loneliness, with which suicide can be associated, is rising in our societies. The chapter by Warren Jones and Lauriann Hebb reviews psychological research on loneliness and, as such, represents a tour de force. Their conclusions show the existence of a clear link between the rise of loneliness and the erosion of social capital. To summarize, although some experiential precursors of loneliness are social isolation and a lack of social contact, many studies suggest that it is emotional conflict within on-going relationships (e.g., arguments, ill-will, misunderstandings) rather than the loss of contact or termination of relationships that is most often conducive to the development of loneliness. Although loneliness is clearly related to various objective situational and social factors (e.g., relationship status, relational stress, being isolated or rejected, etc.) it appears to be even more strongly related to subjective psychological factors including expectations regarding relationships and satisfaction with available friends and relationship partners. Increases in factors that inhibit or disrupt close, warm, reciprocal and mutually satisfying relationships increase the likelihood of loneliness, and this would include situational and culturally determined influences such as individualistic as compared to collectivistic values and practices.
The
increase
in
the
consumption
of
drugs
also
may
be
linked
to a
decrease
in
psychological
well-being. Philippe
Le
Moigne’s
chapter
shows
why
the
prescription
of
pychotropic
drugs
use
is
associated
with
some
specific
aspects
of
isolation.
Implicit
treatment
norms
allow
for
prescriptions
among
the
elderly
since,
in
their
case,
loneliness
and
organic
diseases
are
often
combined;
housewives’
consumption
is
also
encouraged
because
their
situation
can
be
described
as a
problem
of
sheer
solitude
or
personality.
But
the
treatment
of
the
sufferings
linked
to
poverty,
unemployment,
or
working
conditions
collides
with
moral
reprobation
even
though
these
forms
of
vulnerability
are
rooted
in a
deficit
of
solidarity.
The
diffusion
of
psychotropic
drugs
in
the
Western
nations
thus
appears
to
articulate
two
tendencies:
it
underlines
the
current
erosion
of
the
social
link,
and
it
simultaneously
expresses
a
normative
vision
of
this
phenomenon.
Robin
Kowalski’s
interesting
chapter
examines
the
changes
in
moral
behavior
and
what underpins
them
through
a
particular
theme
that
many
of
us
experience
in
our
daily
lives:
the
escalation
of
incivility
in
Western
culture. Her
work
shows
the
rise
of
impropriety,
violence,
and
tension
in
interpersonal
relationships
in
our
societies.
It
also
allows
a
better
understanding
of
how
this
development
is
linked
with
the
loss
of
community
and
collectivistic
values.
A
few
examples: - In
response
to
receiving
an
invitation
to a
wedding
that
you
cannot
attend,
you
carefully
select,
wrap,
and
mail
a
gift
to
the
bride
and
groom.
A
year
after
the
wedding,
you
realize
that
you
have
still
not
received
a
thank
you
note
from
the
couple.
The
decrease
in
social
capital
exists
also
between
men
and
women:
the
chapter
by
Aguiar
&
Ferreira
is a
reflection
on
the
evolution
of
the
gender
relations
that
seem
to
show
signs
of a
more
difficult
adjustment
between
males
and
females
in
terms
of
matching
expectations:
Does mass immigration destabilize our societies by multiplying cultural benchmarks and breaking ancestral community links? The chapter by Geller et al. examines the loss of cultural benchmarks among ethnic majorities and minorities in economically advanced countries in Europe, Central and South America, Asia, and the United States. Actually, as we detail the increase of migration and resulting growth of minority ethnic groups in modern, industrialized countries, we also see how an increase in environmental stressors and disintegration of social cohesiveness are linked with an upsurge in psychopathology. Research shows that positive resources gained from social networks can help offset the deleterious effects of life stressors. As individuals become increasingly atomistic and abandon many of their cultural traditions, they become isolated from their families and communities, making them more vulnerable to the negative products of stress. Thus, migration has been linked with increased physical illness and psychological disorders among uprooted and displaced minorities; even among majority culture members, increasing social disconnectedness and a loss of distinct cultural benchmarks contribute to increased susceptibility to stress. As economically advanced countries continue to see a decrease in social cohesiveness, they also see higher rates of psychiatric disorders in ethnic majority and minority members alike.
Sects
and
religious
movements
are
gaining
ground:
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