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I continue to read Deaths of Despair (DoD) and will add more from that source to this thread in a few days.....
Well, it's been more than a few days since I wrote that but I'll try to catch up.
I'm delighted with all the comments posted so far by everyone, this is the kind of well-reasoned dialog that I wish we had more of on City-Data.
The book "Deaths of Despair" has much in the way of data and charts to support that deaths are way more prevalent among the lesser educated than the college educated. There's also a good deal of supporting narrative which points out the USA has only a fraction of safety net that European nations have and that health care in the USA costs twice as much as in other industrialized nations. For those at the lower levels of the income ladder this is a double whammy and with nowhere to turn to for help many less educated people end up as deaths.
We currently are seeing life expectancy in the USA declining more than at any time since WW-2 where the loss of life due to the war caused a decline in life expectancy. Though much of the current decline is due to the pandemic, there were 93,000 drug deaths, a pandemic in its own way. The decline was 1.4 fewer years of life expectancy.
The authors point out that today's society lacks the fullness it once did for working people who feel less of a connection to an employer, a labor union, a church or a community group. They are less likely to be married. They are more likely to endure chronic pain and to report being unhappy.
The job connection is a big one, most employers today will dump staff at a moment's notice, there seems no loyalty in most firms for the workers. There are stories in the paper about how Amazon tracks the every move of warehouse workers and if someone, even one with a solid 2-year track record, falls below a certain rate of pick/pack work per hour they are fired. Zero loyalty.
Labor unions and the fellowship found in the union halls is a fraction of it's former self.
Church attendance is down, below the 50% mark for the first time ever. Gallup polling from March 2021 reports "Americans' membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup's eight-decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999." That's huge and it denies millions of a community where they could get support (morally, spiritually and even financially).
When was the last time one of your local service club did something notable in your community? Per this website, there's been major declines in the social clubs where people once had a community of friends and peers to buoy them. The site says: "In the last 20 years, Kiwanis clubs have declined over 60%. Jaycees are down 64%. Masons down 76%. Rotary clubs are way down … yet Rotary says it signs up 44,000 new members a year. But they lose 51,000 in the same year."
The college educated have several things going for them: a network of ties to their former classmates who can help them find work or resources; the skills to get a job; and the self-confidence to navigate their way through life. Many non-college workers are going through life ever more alone and isolated which makes it easier to bury bad emotions in alcohol, drugs and suicide.
More later.
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Article in today's WaPo about how people with no college degree are being left behind as the nation starts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. These people are not members of a skilled trade like the construction trades, many of whom have stayed busy during the pandemic even without a college degree.
The Covid-19 pandemic has illustrated and accentuated this. Lower education people are making certain choices that lead them to be more likely to catch coronavirus, and throughout their lives have made similar choices that render them vulnerable. So that I stay within the rules, I will focus on the latter. Smoking obesity and diabetes are factors that make one more susceptible to a serious case of the disease.
The pandemic has widened the educational disparities between upper middle-class and above and lower-middle class and below. Learning PODS or Parent Organized Discovery Sites kept the children of the more educated classes learning while others languished. (link to article) Excerpt:
Quote:
Originally Posted by linked article
As it became clear that most kids would again be learning virtually at least some of the time in the new school year, Lower Hudson Valley parents started sharing their frustrations on social media about a disastrous spring of distance learning and social isolation and their hope for something better.
Then, the buzzword started flying around social media: pods.
Parents began cobbling together groups of kids who would share a sitter during their remote-learning days for districts on a hybrid schedule; others looked for teachers to manage academic instruction for an all-virtual option; and still others wanted to leave public school behind and create their own curriculum, in effect forming a private "micro school."
While in the world of homeschooling, "pod" stands for parent organized discovery sites; the meaning of "learning pod" in the Age of COVID is hardly static.
This is but one example besides health practices where disparities widened.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike from back east
We currently are seeing life expectancy in the USA declining more than at any time since WW-2 where the loss of life due to the war caused a decline in life expectancy. Though much of the current decline is due to the pandemic, there were 93,000 drug deaths, a pandemic in its own way. The decline was 1.4 fewer years of life expectancy.
The authors point out that today's society lacks the fullness it once did for working people who feel less of a connection to an employer, a labor union, a church or a community group. They are less likely to be married. They are more likely to endure chronic pain and to report being unhappy.
Labor unions and the fellowship found in the union halls is a fraction of it's former self.
Hindsight is 20/20. The halcyon days of labor unions coincided with the time that most of the industrial world except for the U.S., Canada and Australia were physically destroyed by the combination of WW I and WWI, between 1914 and 1945. The resurgence of Japan and the PRC doomed that era.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike from back east
Church attendance is down, below the 50% mark for the first time ever. Gallup polling from March 2021 reports "Americans' membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup's eight-decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999." That's huge and it denies millions of a community where they could get support (morally, spiritually and even financially).
I don't know how any statistics embracing the pandemic era can be reliable. Speaking for my own religious denomination, I think that the Reform Jewish movement has always been top heavy, both at the URJ level and the congregation level. My congregation, which I dearly love, conducted a manic, debt-fueled expansion capped by the opening on a new "green" sanctuary just as enrollments are dropping. Dues of $2500 rather than $4200 would be possible without debt service and URJ dues.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike from back east
The college educated have several things going for them: a network of ties to their former classmates who can help them find work or resources; the skills to get a job; and the self-confidence to navigate their way through life. Many non-college workers are going through life ever more alone and isolated which makes it easier to bury bad emotions in alcohol, drugs and suicide.
More later.
One can add the social cache. Though my wife and her family are definitely not snobbish my Cornell degree got me "in the door" and made a favorable impression for a first date. That being said, my wife's identical twin sister is married for almost as long to a very bright individual in the tech industry with an associate's degree.
I distinctly remember the gradual dissolution of social life beginning in the 90s. Maybe it just coincided with adolescence for me, when everyone discovers they are competing with each other, but I think the internet also played a role.
I don't even bother trying to forge new social connections anymore. Whenever I have tried to in the past ten years or so, people have just been mean and jaded. You try to open up and people just attack you.
I distinctly remember the gradual dissolution of social life beginning in the 90s. Maybe it just coincided with adolescence for me, when everyone discovers they are competing with each other, but I think the internet also played a role.
I don't even bother trying to forge new social connections anymore. Whenever I have tried to in the past ten years or so, people have just been mean and jaded. You try to open up and people just attack you.
From what I posted two posts ago the dissolution of social life shows decline since 2000 in all those service clubs (Kiwanis, Rotary, Elks, Lions, Shriners, Odd Fellows, VFW, American Legion, etc). The buildings where they met were a place one could hang out and make the connections that could be called upon when someone needed a job or just to listen.
I think social media has isolated people as well, especially since 2006 when Facebook became open to the public.
As a man I recognize there's competition between men for jobs, job advancement, standing among peers, and access to dates.
All of this leads to isolation which worsens the state of mind for those who have few contacts or outlets to begin with.
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The authors point out that today's society lacks the fullness it once did for working people who feel less of a connection to an employer, a labor union, a church or a community group.
The "lack of fullness" is not limited to persons with dearth of education. It even applies to PhDs; perhaps even more so. Society is becoming more atomized, fragmented, isolated. Adults are ever more involved in their children's lives, leaving less room for socializing with other adults. Husbands and wives spend more time together, leaving less time for the guys to go fishing, or to hang-out in the garage. The nuclear family reigns supreme.
These trends have advanced for decades, but were accelerated by the pandemic. Two generations ago, housewives would gather for tea-parties, while their husbands might go to the bar. That no longer happens much, does it? The pandemic made it even less frequent.
Family-people have withdrawn into the family. Well then, what of the non-family people? Coworkers no longer mingle. Drinks after the office? Hard to do, when the bars are closed. Who even shakes hands anymore? We've become a "society" of recluses and shut-ins. And yeah, some of us are itching to take early retirement... on the Smith and Wesson retirement plan.
The "lack of fullness" is not limited to persons with dearth of education. It even applies to PhDs; perhaps even more so. Society is becoming more atomized, fragmented, isolated. Adults are ever more involved in their children's lives, leaving less room for socializing with other adults. Husbands and wives spend more time together, leaving less time for the guys to go fishing, or to hang-out in the garage. The nuclear family reigns supreme.
These trends have advanced for decades, but were accelerated by the pandemic. Two generations ago, housewives would gather for tea-parties, while their husbands might go to the bar. That no longer happens much, does it? The pandemic made it even less frequent.
Family-people have withdrawn into the family. Well then, what of the non-family people? Coworkers no longer mingle. Drinks after the office? Hard to do, when the bars are closed. Who even shakes hands anymore? We've become a "society" of recluses and shut-ins. And yeah, some of us are itching to take early retirement... on the Smith and Wesson retirement plan.
Everything you post there is so true. I even wonder, with synagogues and churches being only partially "open" whether the normal gathering places of society have the will to fulfill that function. After services there used to be a communal snack, called an "oneg"; no more. Even normal social meetings for lunch or dinner are fewer, further between and more tense.
From what I posted two posts ago the dissolution of social life shows decline since 2000 in all those service clubs (Kiwanis, Rotary, Elks, Lions, Shriners, Odd Fellows, VFW, American Legion, etc). The buildings where they met were a place one could hang out and make the connections that could be called upon when someone needed a job or just to listen.
I think social media has isolated people as well, especially since 2006 when Facebook became open to the public.
As a man I recognize there's competition between men for jobs, job advancement, standing among peers, and access to dates.
All of this leads to isolation which worsens the state of mind for those who have few contacts or outlets to begin with.
I began to withdraw in 1996 when I got the internet. I guess I was an early adopter.
I was in college in the early 2000s which is a very social environment. The social life there did not live up to expectations set by movies, but what does?
By the time I was out of school, it felt like society had completely changed while I was in the college bubble. Those first few years out of college were very alienating. They still are alienating, but I am used to it now.
Everything you post there is so true. I even wonder, with synagogues and churches being only partially "open" whether the normal gathering places of society have the will to fulfill that function. After services there used to be a communal snack, called an "oneg"; no more. Even normal social meetings for lunch or dinner are fewer, further between and more tense.
My synagogue still holds an oneg after services. The person slicing the challah wears disposable food prep gloves, and the small, plastic kiddush cups have lids on them when they are distributed. In fact, I'm personally sponsoring the oneg for after this coming Friday evening's services, in memory of a dear friend who passed away. Which reminds me... I still have to get the kosher, individually wrapped chocolates I planned! (Lindt does them, and they're glorious.)
Back on topic: I'm enjoying everyone's participation in this thread. Note to Mike from Back East: That was a good decision of yours to move it to Great Debates. I may purchase that book you recommended: Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism (I get the pun, but I still keep wanting to see "Depths of Despair").
Last edited by Rachel NewYork; 07-26-2021 at 08:28 AM..
Many of the current habits mentioned above, were recognized in 1981 by Faith Popcorn.
Quote:
Cocooning is staying inside one's home, insulated from perceived danger, instead of going out.[1][2][3] The term was coined in 1981 by Faith Popcorn, a trend forecaster and marketing consultant.[4] It is used in social science,[5][6] marketing,[7] parenting,[8][9] economic forecasting,[10] self-help,[11] religion,[12] and has become part of standard English as defined by multiple dictionaries.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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I am a lower income office worker but with a college degree. My degree hasn't gained me as much income as I'd liked but I do think the perspective of understanding why things are happening makes me less anxious than those who lack education to understand their life problems and grab onto conspiracy theories. Being around educated people I also learned how to eat healthier, manage my finances better, etc.
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