Social change outpacing generational horizons shrinks the reliable present.

Evidence

Highly submissive, highly conventional persons have invested a lot in the status quo. They perceive waves of rebellion and sin constantly shrinking their island of respectable stability, especially if they feel personally vulnerable to attack in a disintegrating, increasingly lawless society. The classic responses to strong fear, after all, are “Fight” or “Run away! Run away!” — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 540 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Because the social structural conditions that overcome the problems of supplying these public goods-that is, strong families and strong communities-are much less often present now than in the past, and promise to be even less present in the future, we can expect that, ceteris paribus, we confront a declining quantity of human capital embodied in each successive generation. … This very likely means the substitution of some kind of formal organization for the voluntary and spontaneous social organization that has in the past been the major source of social capital available to the young. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 231 (#complicates, via linked claim)

If now life—as a cosmic, generic, singular phenomenon—is such a continuous stream, there is good reason for its profound opposition against form. This opposition appears as the unceasing, usually unnoticed (but also often revolutionary) battle of ongoing life against the historical pattern and formal unflexibility of any given cultural content, thereby becoming the innermost impulse toward culture change. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 820 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Declining family and community bonds shrink each generation’s human capital. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 231; Submissive conventional people experience social change as a shrinking island of stability — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 540; The tension between life and form drives cultural change. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 820 (+3 more)

Related

• Submissive conventional people experience social change as a shrinking island of stability (similarity 0.82)
• Declining family and community bonds shrink each generation’s human capital. (similarity 0.80)
• The tension between life and form drives cultural change. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Submissive conventional people experience social change as a shrinking island of stability #complicates (0.80) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 540
• Declining family and community bonds shrink each generation’s human capital. #complicates (0.72) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 231
• The tension between life and form drives cultural change. #expands (0.72) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 820