Affluence‑Driven Social Atomization

Updated: 2026.03.23 1H ago 1 sources
Comfort and mass prosperity can produce the same civic breakdown as trauma-driven collapse by encouraging expressive individualism that dissolves shared institutions and loyalties. That 'easy' atomization looks like schismatic, self-focused movements rather than traditional collective ties. — If true, policy and political remedies need to address cultural and communal rebuilding, not only economic shocks or security threats.

Sources

The 'Me Generation', Fifty Years On
Rod Dreher 2026.03.23 100% relevant
Rod Dreher’s thesis invoking Tom Wolfe and Hannah Arendt — specifically Wolfe’s 'Third Great Awakening' and Dreher’s direct comparison to 1920s Germany — is the concrete rhetorical and analytical anchor for this idea.
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