We Broke Society. This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things.

The 2024 US presidential election broke a lot of people. And it broke a centuries-long social contract. No longer are we expected to be kind, or decent, or truthful. Kindness to our fellow humans is no longer forefront. Everything just kinda feels... worse.

Nonhuman animals now take their undeserved station even lower on the scale of human priorities. Environment? Who cares? Caring is no longer cool. Giving zero fucks is where it’s at. But what’s interesting is that sociologists and social psychologists (and some climatologists) saw this coming. It came “faster than expected.” But bad news coming “faster than expected” is the new normal.

Nobody can accurately predict the fall of an empire or the collapse of a civilization. But there are indicators, social indicators. And none of it is surprising given the backdrop of climate chaos. If you’re paying attention, things ain’t lookin’ good. Oops.

Those indicators are kinda like those annoying red warning lights that pop up on a car’s dashboard. “Check Engine.” What the fuck does that mean? Probably important, but most drivers will choose to ignore the warning lights… or cover them up with black tape so they that no longer have to be bothered with potential bad news, especially if it requires that they do something.

If that’s you, you might wanna look away. This, as everything I post on Positively Doomed, is for those who already know the debate is over. WASF… and that’s OK. Nothing for you to do here; I’m just offering one sociological perspective to those who like to play along.

Q: Anomie, coined by sociologist Emile Durkheim in the late 19th century, is the breakdown of shared social norms, values, and expectations within a society. Anomie is when our social fabric disintegrates. In our current environmental and political climate, how might we view the unfolding collapse of civilization as it relates to his theory of anomie?

A: When we view the collapse through the lens of anomie, it's easy to see our increasing normlessness. Social regulation is breaking down and individual desires are unmoored from collective moral constraints.

In Durkheim's sociological framework, anomie emerges when societies experience rapid social transformation that outpaces existing normative structures. Sound familiar? You’re soaking in it. As traditional social bonds weaken and collective consciousness fragments, individuals lose their sense of meaningful connection and clear behavioral guidelines.

This creates a potentially dangerous psychological state where personal desires become unrestrained by social regulation.

Durkheim would argue that civilization's collapse isn't just about external systems failing, but about the internal psychological disintegration of social solidarity. When people no longer feel meaningfully connected to collective purposes, they experience profound alienation. This alienation leads to increased rates of social pathologies: rising suicide rates, increased crime, reduced empathy, and a fundamental breakdown of shared moral understanding.

The collapse becomes almost inevitable because:

1. Normative structures lose their regulatory power

2. Individual self-interest becomes paramount

3. Collective meaning dissolves

4. Social institutions can no longer effectively mediate human interactions

From Durkheim's perspective, this isn't just a political or economic breakdown, but a profound spiritual crisis where society loses its integrative function. Individuals become increasingly atomized, experiencing what he termed "currents of depression" - a collective psychological state of meaninglessness and disconnection. This may arouse in you the feeling: "Is anything real anymore?"

Are you feeling it? I am. Even walking down the street, we’re no longer sure what is in the hearts of others. Of course, we never really knew. But we worked from the assumption that we had a shared social contract to take care of one another, or at least not harm one another. Anyone who strayed from that agreed upon contract was punished. Now, those who breach the social contract are rewarded with money, with fame and with political power.

The ultimate tragedy, in Durkheimian analysis, is that this process is often invisible until the damage becomes irreparable - a slow, systemic erosion of the social fabric that occurs beneath conscious perception. Sorry about that. But I’m guessing you already knew that, too.

Be kind. Even to yourself. It’s hard out there.