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1The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
New York Times columnist and author of To Change the Church Ross Douthat delves into our society’s stagnation and delivers some hard-hitting truths about how our actions today could lead to a historic crisis—or revitalization.
Today, the Western world is suffering from a painful, nameless malaise. The optimistic view of the new millennium has receded, giving way to profound frustration and disillusionment. Here, The Decadent Society provides an enlightening and informative diagnosis of our modern condition.
Author and New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat observes that Western societies are currently living through a paradoxical era called decadence, making some eye-opening yet well substantiated comparisons with the decline of the Roman Empire. Although we are seemingly blessed with a high level of material prosperity and technological development, our society is plagued by economic stagnation, institutional decay, and cultural and intellectual exhaustion.
An age of decadence is marked by an absence of growth and innovation. Repetition is more the norm than innovation and complacency has infiltrated public institutions and private enterprises alike. Intellectual life seems to go in circles and new developments in science, new exploratory projects, underdeliver compared to people’s expectations.
In this insightful work of historical, economical, and philosophical synthesis, Douthat identifies the symptoms and origins of our current period of decadence, and projects the most likely paths the future will take—either renaissance or collapse.
Today, the Western world is suffering from a painful, nameless malaise. The optimistic view of the new millennium has receded, giving way to profound frustration and disillusionment. Here, The Decadent Society provides an enlightening and informative diagnosis of our modern condition.
Author and New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat observes that Western societies are currently living through a paradoxical era called decadence, making some eye-opening yet well substantiated comparisons with the decline of the Roman Empire. Although we are seemingly blessed with a high level of material prosperity and technological development, our society is plagued by economic stagnation, institutional decay, and cultural and intellectual exhaustion.
An age of decadence is marked by an absence of growth and innovation. Repetition is more the norm than innovation and complacency has infiltrated public institutions and private enterprises alike. Intellectual life seems to go in circles and new developments in science, new exploratory projects, underdeliver compared to people’s expectations.
In this insightful work of historical, economical, and philosophical synthesis, Douthat identifies the symptoms and origins of our current period of decadence, and projects the most likely paths the future will take—either renaissance or collapse.
“The desire for a different future only goes so far.” -@DouthatNYT, in a brilliant book excerpt “It seems rather easy for Christian writers to announce the end of the age-since, after all, it was never to their liking.” -Judith Shklar https://t.co/aQ2iisfTIa [source]
Murtaza Mohammad Hussain
Reading @DouthatNYT’s book “The Decadent Society.” There is an interesting hypothesis about Israel’s exceptionally high birthrate among developed countries: the product of a politically mobilized society. Similar dynamic in America’s post-WW2 baby boom: https://t.co/ObLtfm3oDQ [source]