If America Is Better Than Ever, Why Do So Many Americans Feel It’s Falling Apart?

[Hardkill]

On 11/22/2023 at 7:05 PM, Leo Gura said:

Life is better and easier than it's ever been in human history.

I've now largely agree with that after reading up on more facts and history of the US and the rest world.

This is something I’ve been trying to understand.

By most objective measures, the United States today is more socially fair and more materially developed than it was in the mid-1900s, and arguably even more so than in the late 1990s or early 2000s. We have far stronger civil rights protections, much less overt discrimination, dramatically better technology, medicine, and safety, and vastly more knowledge and opportunity than earlier generations had.

And yet, despite all of this, most Americans seem far less satisfied with the system than they were during the post-war era or even during the late 1900s/early aughts. Many people feel the country is “going in the wrong direction,” that institutions are broken, and that the system no longer works for ordinary people.

What’s puzzling is that earlier generations lived through far worse objective conditions: world wars, the Great Depression, much higher levels of violence, explicit legal discrimination, and existential Cold War threats. And yet, broad trust in institutions and belief in the system’s legitimacy were often higher than they are today.

So what explains this gap?

Is it:

• changes in expectations rather than conditions?
• the modern media and social media environment amplifying negativity?
• rising economic precarity despite overall wealth?
• loss of shared narratives and social cohesion?
• the decline of collective institutions (unions, churches, civic orgs)?
• or something deeper about meaning, identity, and modern life?

I’m not arguing that things are “fine” or that real problems don’t exist — clearly they do. We still have Trumpism, SCOTUS controlled by corrupt conservatives on the bench, economic inequality and affordability issues, climate change, lost of abortion rights in various parts of the country, a lot of people losing their healthcare coverage, AI fears, etc. as major problems in our country. 

But I’m now genuinely curious why subjective dissatisfaction has grown even as objective conditions (and fairness) have improved on net.

Would love to hear how others here think about this paradox.

Edited 1 hour ago by Hardkill