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The Cultural Crisis, 20 Years Later
In 1993, THE FUTURIST published author Richard Eckersley's provocative essay, "The West's Deepening Cultural Crisis." Here, he looks back at what has happened since, and forward to what the next 20 years might hold.
For a while, things were looking up.
Twenty years ago, I argued that Western culture was in crisis, marked by increasing pessimism about the future and declining wellbeing, especially among youth. Other serious problems we faced- the intractable economic difficulties, widening social gulf, and worsening environmental degradation-were also fundamentally problems of culture, of beliefs and moral priorities.
Readers responded strongly, and mostly positively, to the essay. In a poll run by THE FUTURIST, 84% agreed that Western culture was failing to provide a sense of meaning, belonging, and purpose, and a framework of values; 63% said most people in Western nations were pessimistic about the future; 57% agreed that excessive individualism was a problem in Western cultures.
The 1990s seemed to offer new hope. The dot-com and biotech booms were heralded as the beginning of an era of unlimited and sustainable economic growth and prosperity. Several of the adverse trends in young people's well-being began to improve in countries like the United States, where the declines had been most pronounced. Climate change made it onto the political agenda, nationally and internationally.
Then things changed again. Events such as 9/11 and other terrorist attacks, the West's waging of protracted and unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rise of the East, notably China, to challenge the West's economic and political supremacy all contributed. Then the global financial crisis struck in 2008. "Declinology" has now become a new theme in public debate and discussion about Western civilization.
Beneath the economic and political ebb and flow over the past two decades, the West's cultural crisis never really went away. Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, surveys continued to reveal public disquiet about "the frenzied, excessive quality of life today" (as a 1995 American survey put it). And this crisis had an increasingly tangible outcome as new research revealed more about the extent and seriousness of youth health problems.
"Culture" isn't simply about groups having distinctive costumes, songs, dances, or prayers. Culture brings order and meaning...