Psychological perceptions of decline can count as difficult life conditions, not only material hardships.

Evidence

Initially, I found Staub’s essential conceptualization of “difficult life conditions” too broad. It is a notion that, if defined narrowly, we can all understand and know when to apply. For example, the rampant economic inflation of Weimar Germany led many previously well-to-do people into poverty, and created the difficult life conditions he alludes to. However, Staub’s notion of difficult life conditions is broader and less concrete. Essentially, he psychologizes it. Experiencing difficult life conditions is after all a psychological state, and may be caused not by obvious economic hardships or other deprivations such as those caused by famines, but by more symbolic and subjective disruptions. Threats to self-esteem, for instance, can cause the perception of difficult life circumstances. By psychologizing the concept, Staub has made it potentially much more arguable in its application. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3980

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the ‘difficult life conditions’ construct as a psychological state rather than a material condition.
• XREF: connects to: Rising depression may be a reaction to unfulfillable acceleration expectations. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 110