It has been claimed that we are in a ‘crisis of connection’ (Gilligan et al, 2018). People are more disconnected from each other with “a state of alienation, isolation and fragmentation characterising much of the modern world” (p.1). The ‘we’ that symbolises community or a collective consciousness has lost all meaning. This is evidenced by decreasing levels of empathy and trust, increases in depression, anxiety, loneliness and social isolation. The impact of this can be seen in rising levels of suicide, addiction and mass violence as well as high rates of incarceration, hate crimes, domestic violence and sexual assault. There is also huge inequality in income, education, health care and housing. As the bonds of solidarity weaken, we are less able to address these problems.
While throughout human history there has been a struggle to create an inclusive ‘we’, it is the disconnection within and across communities that has increased in the 19th and 20th centuries (Gilligan et al, 2018). In ‘Bowling alone’ Robert Putman highlighted the decline in social capital – the benefits of participating in social networks. Putnam demonstrated that civic organisation and social institutions (family, school, religious organisations) that once created the bonds to hold a society together have been weakened and alienation and individualism has grown. A scientific basis for this consensus has begun to emerge over the last four decades in a wide range of disciplines from neuroscience to evolutionary anthropology and primatology. These collective insights have created the newly emerging ‘science of human connection’. There has been a ‘paradigm shift’ in the sciences which now sees humans an inherently relational and responsive.
In modern societies we value ‘self over relationships, individual success over the common good, the mind over the body, and thinking over feeling’ (Gilligan et al, 2018). This mindset devalues core aspects of our humanity and lead to a decline in familial and communal bonds. This disconnection leads to lower levels of trust and empathy, rising rates of depression and anxiety and increasing levels of loneliness and social isolation. Lower trust and empathy, according to the data, brings increasing educational and income inequality, mass imprisonment and hate crimes. Rising anxiety, depression, loneliness and isolation bring increased suicide rates, drug addiction, violence, health problems and decreasing life expectancy for alienated groups. Epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett claim that two most important factors that influence health and well-being in industrialised countries is friendships and social status. Emile Durkheim described the ‘anomie’ and alienation that sets in when there is a mismatch between what people need and the values of the society in which they live.
Reference
Gilligan, C. The crisis of connection (2019).