Morality

Morality Plot Summary

Introduction

Western societies have undergone a profound transformation in recent decades - a shift from communal values to radical individualism that has fundamentally altered our moral landscape. This transformation represents what might be called "cultural climate change," a gradual but comprehensive reorientation of values that has left us increasingly isolated despite unprecedented technological connectivity. The evidence appears in multiple domains: rising rates of loneliness and depression, declining civic engagement, eroding trust in institutions, and the fragmentation of shared ethical frameworks that once bound communities together. The moral crisis we face cannot be addressed through either market mechanisms or government programs alone. It requires rebuilding the moral communities that stand between the individual and the state - families, religious congregations, voluntary associations, and other intermediate institutions that develop character and transmit values. Through examining the consequences of moral decline across domains from economics to education, from digital communication to democratic governance, we can identify practical paths toward moral renewal that honor both individual freedom and communal responsibility. This renewal begins not with policy changes but with a fundamental shift in how we understand ourselves and our relationships to others.

Chapter 1: The Shift from 'We' to 'I': Understanding Our Moral Crisis

Western society has undergone a profound transformation over the past half-century - a shift from "We" to "I" that has fundamentally altered our moral landscape. This transformation represents a form of cultural climate change as significant as environmental climate change, though less visible and more gradual. The evidence appears in multiple domains: linguistic analysis shows a marked increase in first-person singular pronouns since the mid-1960s, while first-person plural pronouns have declined. Popular music lyrics similarly reflect this trend, with words expressing social connection diminishing as individualistic expressions rise. This moral transformation has had profound consequences. As communal bonds weaken, loneliness has become epidemic. In Britain, over nine million people report feeling lonely, with two hundred thousand older Britons not having spoken to friends or family in over a month. In America, nearly half of adults report feeling alone or left out. This isolation isn't merely uncomfortable—it's deadly. Social isolation increases mortality risk by 26-32 percent, comparable to smoking fifteen cigarettes daily. The health implications are severe: chronic loneliness raises stress hormones, increases blood pressure, and weakens immune function. The individualism that defines our era has undermined the very institutions that once provided moral structure and social cohesion. Marriage rates have declined while divorce rates have risen. Community organizations have atrophied. Religious participation has diminished. These institutions once served as the primary vehicles for transmitting moral values across generations. Their decline has left a vacuum that neither the market nor the state can adequately fill. Markets operate through competition, not cooperation, while the state's impersonal bureaucracy cannot replicate the warmth of human connection found in families and communities. The consequences of this moral shift extend beyond personal unhappiness to societal dysfunction. When the "I" dominates the "We," social trust erodes. Political discourse becomes more polarized and less civil. Economic inequality widens as corporate executives prioritize personal gain over collective welfare. The social fabric that once bound diverse individuals into a coherent community begins to fray, leaving us vulnerable to populist movements that promise to restore a sense of belonging but often do so by scapegoating others. This moral decline isn't merely a nostalgic lament for a mythical past. It represents a genuine crisis in how we understand ourselves and our responsibilities to one another. The shift from "We" to "I" has left us morally impoverished, lacking the shared vocabulary and values needed to address common challenges. Without a moral framework that transcends individual self-interest, we struggle to articulate why certain actions are wrong beyond their impact on personal autonomy. The path forward requires rediscovering the moral foundations of a healthy society - recognizing that freedom flourishes not in isolation but within communities bound by mutual obligation.

Chapter 2: Isolation and Its Consequences: The Health Impact of Moral Decline

Loneliness has become the defining condition of modern life. Despite unprecedented technological connectivity, more people than ever report feeling isolated and disconnected. In the United States, the proportion of single-person households has more than doubled in fifty years, while in Britain, there was a 16 percent increase in people living alone between 1997 and 2017. This isolation is not merely a social phenomenon but a profound health hazard. Research consistently shows that chronic loneliness increases mortality risk comparable to smoking or obesity. The human need for connection is not a luxury but a biological necessity, hardwired into our evolutionary past. Our ancestors survived through group cooperation, developing neural circuitry that responds to social connection as essential for survival. When isolated, the body experiences stress, activating physiological responses designed for acute danger rather than chronic conditions. Over time, this stress response damages the immune system and cardiovascular health. Studies reveal that socially isolated individuals have higher rates of declining mobility, increased susceptibility to infection, and greater vulnerability to conditions like dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The biological impact of loneliness underscores that humans are fundamentally social creatures, not autonomous individuals. The paradox of modern isolation is that it coincides with unprecedented freedom. We can choose our relationships, careers, and lifestyles with minimal external constraint. Yet this freedom has come at the cost of stability and belonging. Traditional sources of identity—family, community, faith—have weakened, leaving individuals to construct meaning largely on their own. Charles Taylor described this as "the spread of an outlook that makes self-fulfillment the major value in life and that seems to recognize few external moral demands or serious commitments to others." The result is a society where people are free as never before but also increasingly adrift. This isolation extends beyond personal relationships to civic engagement. Robert Putnam documented how Americans increasingly "bowl alone" rather than participating in leagues and associations. Voluntary organizations that once brought diverse individuals together have declined, diminishing opportunities for developing social capital—the networks of trust and reciprocity that make collective action possible. Without these intermediate institutions between the individual and the state, democracy itself becomes vulnerable, as citizens lose the habits of cooperation necessary for self-governance. The consequences of isolation are particularly severe for vulnerable populations. Sebastian Junger observed that American veterans experience higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder than their counterparts in other countries or previous wars. His explanation is revealing: soldiers return from the intense camaraderie of military service to a society where "most people work outside the home, children are educated by strangers, families are isolated from wider communities, and personal gain almost completely eclipses collective good." The healing power of community is absent precisely when it is most needed. The antidote to isolation lies not in technological solutions but in rebuilding moral communities. Religion has historically excelled at this task, creating spaces where people experience belonging and practice mutual aid. During the Industrial Revolution, churches helped migrants transition from village life to urban environments by recreating communities in new settings. Today, religious congregations remain among the strongest sources of social capital, providing contexts where people develop relationships across demographic lines. The challenge is to recover or reinvent such moral communities in a pluralistic society, recognizing that our humanity depends on transcending our solitude.

Chapter 3: Markets Without Morals: When Economics Loses Its Ethical Foundation

The financial crisis of 2007-2008 revealed a profound moral vacuum at the heart of market economics. When Lehman Brothers collapsed and the global economy teetered on the brink, the underlying cause wasn't merely technical failure but moral bankruptcy. Financial institutions had created increasingly complex derivatives that effectively outsourced risk while maximizing profit. Bankers leveraged deposits on an unprecedented scale, assuming that property values would rise indefinitely or that someone else would bear the consequences if they didn't. This combination of greed and irresponsibility exemplifies what happens when markets operate without moral constraints. The aftermath of the crisis exposed an even deeper moral failure. While governments spent billions rescuing banks deemed "too big to fail," ordinary citizens lost homes, jobs, and savings. Yet many financial executives continued awarding themselves substantial bonuses, seemingly oblivious to their role in creating widespread suffering. This disconnect between actions and consequences reflects what economists call "moral hazard"—a situation where decision-makers don't bear the full risks of their choices. When bankers can privatize gains while socializing losses, the market's ability to align individual and collective interests breaks down. This moral failure extends beyond crisis moments to everyday corporate governance. CEO compensation has skyrocketed while worker wages have stagnated. In America, the ratio of chief executive to worker pay rose from 20:1 in 1965 to 312:1 today. This disparity reflects not market efficiency but a breakdown in corporate accountability. Board members, often executives themselves, approve compensation packages that prioritize short-term profits over long-term sustainability. The result is a system where executives can extract wealth from companies they manage without necessarily creating value for employees, communities, or even shareholders. The globalization of production has further severed the moral connections between economic decisions and their consequences. When manufacturing moves to low-wage economies, the benefits of growth concentrate in urban centers while former industrial regions decline. Communities experience unemployment, drug abuse, family breakdown, and diminished social capital. These social costs don't appear on corporate balance sheets but represent real damage to human lives. The market, focused narrowly on financial metrics, fails to account for these broader impacts on social well-being. Trust, essential for market functioning, has eroded as economic relationships become increasingly transactional. The very words we use in commerce reveal this moral dimension: "credit" derives from the Latin credo (I believe), while "confidence" comes from fides (faith). Markets depend on participants believing others will honor commitments and act with integrity. When this trust breaks down, transaction costs rise as parties invest in monitoring and enforcement. The 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey found that young people's belief that businesses behave ethically fell from 65 percent to 48 percent in a single year. This collapse in trust threatens the social foundations on which markets rest. The solution isn't to abandon markets but to reembed them within moral frameworks. Adam Smith himself, often invoked as the patron saint of free markets, wrote extensively about moral sentiments before addressing wealth creation. He understood that markets function within social contexts shaped by moral norms. These norms cannot be generated by market transactions themselves but must come from families, communities, educational institutions, and religious traditions. When we outsource morality to the market, expecting self-interest alone to produce the common good, we undermine the very conditions that make markets possible. Markets need morals, and morals are not made by markets.

Chapter 4: Truth in Crisis: How Shared Reality Breaks Down

The phenomenon of "post-truth" represents a fundamental crisis in how societies establish shared understanding. In 2016, the Oxford English Dictionary named "post-truth" its word of the year, defining it as circumstances where "objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief." This shift didn't emerge suddenly but culminated from intellectual currents that had been developing for decades. Postmodernism, with its skepticism toward "grand narratives" and objective truth claims, provided the theoretical foundation. Social media then created the technological infrastructure for misinformation to spread rapidly without traditional gatekeepers. The consequences for democratic discourse have been severe. During the Brexit referendum and 2016 American presidential election, misleading claims circulated widely, while sophisticated data mining operations targeted voters with personalized messaging designed to manipulate rather than inform. The Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed how 87 million Facebook users had their personal data harvested without consent for political purposes. Russian interference further complicated the information landscape, with the Internet Research Agency reaching over 126 million Americans with divisive content. These developments have eroded public confidence in shared sources of information, making collective deliberation increasingly difficult. Social media algorithms exacerbate these problems by creating filter bubbles that reinforce existing beliefs. Because engagement metrics drive content distribution, platforms prioritize material that provokes strong emotional responses—often outrage or fear—over nuanced analysis. Confirmation bias, our tendency to accept information that aligns with pre-existing views, finds perfect expression in these algorithmic environments. The result is increasing polarization as citizens inhabit separate information ecosystems with diminishing common reference points. A 2019 Pew Research Center report found that Americans view fake news as a more serious problem than terrorism, racism, or illegal immigration. Universities, traditionally bastions of truth-seeking, have not been immune to these trends. Campus debates increasingly focus on who can speak rather than what is said. Concepts like "safe spaces," "trigger warnings," and "micro-aggressions" reflect a shift from objective truth to subjective experience as the primary criterion for evaluating claims. While these concepts often arise from genuine concern for marginalized groups, they can undermine the open inquiry essential for knowledge advancement. When universities prioritize comfort over challenge, they compromise their core mission of collaborative truth-seeking. The erosion of truth has profound implications for trust, both interpersonally and institutionally. Trust depends on shared understandings of reality and expectations that others will act in accordance with those understandings. When fundamental facts become contested, cooperation becomes nearly impossible. This explains declining trust in government, media, business, and other institutions. In Britain, trust in government fell from 36 percent to 26 percent between 2016 and 2017. In America, trust in government declined from 75 percent in 1958 to just 18 percent in 2017. Without trusted institutions to mediate conflicts and establish common ground, societies become vulnerable to demagogues who promise certainty amid confusion. Friedrich Nietzsche, though himself a critic of traditional truth claims, recognized the dangers of abandoning truth altogether. He observed that science itself depends on a prior moral commitment: "Nothing is needed more than truth, and in relation to it, everything else has only second-rate value." Without this commitment, deception becomes merely another strategy for advancing one's interests. Nietzsche understood that the pursuit of truth ultimately rests on moral foundations—specifically, the belief that truth matters more than convenience or advantage. As these moral foundations weaken, truth itself becomes increasingly difficult to sustain as a social value.

Chapter 5: Moral Communities: Where Values Are Formed and Sustained

Moral communities provide the essential foundation for human flourishing that neither markets nor states can supply. These communities—families, religious congregations, voluntary associations, and neighborhoods—create spaces where people develop virtues through face-to-face relationships. Unlike market transactions based on exchange or state interactions based on authority, moral communities operate through covenant relationships characterized by mutual commitment. They transform individuals from self-interested actors into persons capable of genuine care for others, creating what sociologist Robert Bellah called "habits of the heart"—the dispositions that make democratic citizenship possible. The distinctive feature of moral communities is their ability to generate social goods that increase rather than diminish through sharing. While material resources like wealth and power operate by division (the more I share, the less I have), social goods like friendship, knowledge, and love multiply through distribution. These goods cannot be produced by market incentives or government mandates but emerge organically from relationships characterized by trust and reciprocity. Research consistently demonstrates that participation in such communities correlates with greater happiness, better health outcomes, and increased resilience in the face of adversity. The Grant Study, which tracked Harvard graduates for over eighty years, reached a striking conclusion about human flourishing. When asked what he had learned from this unprecedented longitudinal research, director George Vaillant replied: "That the only thing that really matters in life is your relationships to other people." The study found that close relationships protected people from life's discontents, delayed mental and physical decline, and predicted long and happy lives better than social class, IQ, or genetic factors. This confirms what moral traditions have long maintained: human beings find fulfillment not in isolation but in connection. Religious communities exemplify this relationship-centered approach to human development. They provide regular opportunities for intergenerational contact, create contexts for practicing altruism, and embed individuals within narratives that extend beyond their own lifetimes. The Sabbath, for instance, functions as a weekly antidote to market values by creating time dedicated exclusively to relationships and reflection. As economist Tomáš Sedláček argues, "Sabbath economics" offers a necessary counterbalance to the endless pursuit of more, allowing people to celebrate what they have rather than fixate on what they lack. These practices cultivate gratitude, which research shows increases life satisfaction while diminishing the hedonic treadmill of consumer culture. Moral communities also provide essential support during life transitions and crises. When people experience bereavement, illness, or economic hardship, these communities mobilize practical assistance and emotional support. The Jewish practice of shiva, where community members visit and care for the bereaved, exemplifies how moral traditions address suffering not through isolation but through intensified connection. This contrasts sharply with therapeutic approaches that often focus exclusively on individual psychology without addressing the social context of suffering. As Philip Rieff observed, traditional communities sought to reintegrate suffering individuals into collective life rather than treating their distress as purely personal. The decline of moral communities has left many people vulnerable to what Sebastian Junger calls "the paradox of modern society"—material comfort combined with social isolation. Veterans returning from combat experience this acutely, moving from the intense bonds of military units to atomized civilian life. This helps explain why post-traumatic stress disorder rates are higher among American veterans than those of other nations or previous eras. Without strong communities to receive them, the transition from collective purpose to individual existence becomes nearly impossible to navigate. This pattern repeats across society as traditional sources of belonging weaken without adequate replacements.

Chapter 6: Beyond Victimhood: Reclaiming Moral Agency and Responsibility

The culture of victimhood represents one of the most significant obstacles to moral renewal in contemporary society. This culture transforms genuine suffering into political identity, encouraging people to define themselves primarily by the wrongs they have experienced rather than by their capacity for agency and resilience. While acknowledging injustice remains essential for creating a more equitable society, defining oneself primarily as a victim diminishes personal power and perpetuates suffering. As Holocaust survivor and psychologist Edith Eger observes, "Suffering is universal, but victimhood is optional." This distinction proves crucial for both individual healing and social progress. The politicization of victimhood has transformed legitimate grievances into competitive claims for recognition and resources. Identity politics increasingly sorts individuals into groups defined by immutable characteristics, each positioned on a hierarchy of oppression. This framework divides society into oppressors and victims, with moral worth determined by one's location within this binary structure. Such categorization leaves little room for the complexity of human experience or the possibility of transcending historical injustice. It also undermines the liberal democratic ideal of evaluating individuals based on character and conduct rather than group membership. Contrast this approach with the remarkable resilience demonstrated by many Holocaust survivors. Despite experiencing the most extreme victimization in modern history, many survivors refused to define themselves by what had been done to them. Instead, they focused on building new lives, establishing families, and contributing to their communities. Yisrael Kristal, who survived Auschwitz and lived to become the world's oldest man at 113, exemplifies this spirit. Having lost his wife and children in the Holocaust, he remarried, moved to Israel, and established a successful confectionery business. When asked about his extraordinary longevity, he emphasized gratitude rather than grievance. Jordan Peterson, whose clinical work focuses on helping people overcome victimhood mentality, argues that the fundamental choice we face in any difficult situation is whether to look backward or forward. Looking backward leads to questions like "Why did this happen to me?" which often generate resentment and helplessness. Looking forward prompts the question "What, then, shall I do?" which activates agency and problem-solving. This orientation doesn't deny past injustice but refuses to let it determine future possibilities. Peterson's daughter Mikhaila, who suffered from severe juvenile arthritis, exemplifies this approach by refusing to see herself as a victim despite legitimate grounds for doing so. The therapeutic culture that emerged in the mid-twentieth century has inadvertently contributed to victimhood mentality by psychologizing moral questions. When personal distress becomes primarily a medical or psychological issue rather than a moral challenge, responsibility shifts from the individual to external factors. While this approach has reduced stigma around mental illness, it has also diminished emphasis on character development and moral agency. Philip Rieff observed that traditional communities addressed suffering by reintegrating individuals into collective life, whereas modern therapy often isolates individuals in their subjective experience, reinforcing rather than transcending their sense of alienation. Reclaiming responsibility requires rejecting both naive individualism and deterministic collectivism. It means acknowledging systemic constraints while refusing to be defined by them. Viktor Frankl, who survived Nazi concentration camps, articulated this perspective powerfully: "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances." This freedom remains available even under extreme oppression, though exercising it may require extraordinary courage. By focusing on this freedom rather than on limitations, individuals discover resources for transformation that victimhood mentality obscures.

Chapter 7: Rebuilding the Common Good: Practical Paths to Moral Renewal

The restoration of shared values requires transcending the false dichotomy between state and market that has dominated political discourse for decades. Both institutions serve essential functions but operate according to fundamentally different principles than moral communities. Markets coordinate individual choices through price signals, while states exercise legitimate coercion through law. Neither can generate the moral commitments necessary for social cohesion. These commitments emerge from what Edmund Burke called the "little platoons" of society—families, religious congregations, voluntary associations, and other intermediate institutions that stand between the individual and the state. The Anglo-American political tradition historically recognized this tripartite social structure—individuals, civil society, and government—with civil society serving as the primary arena for moral development. This contrasts with the French revolutionary model, which recognized only individuals and the state, viewing intermediate institutions with suspicion as potential obstacles to the "general will." Unfortunately, Western societies have increasingly adopted this binary framework, outsourcing moral responsibilities either to market mechanisms or government programs. The result has been a hollowing out of civil society precisely when its integrative function is most needed. Reclaiming shared values begins with acknowledging their indispensability. Friedrich Hayek, despite his advocacy for free markets, recognized that market systems depend on moral norms they cannot themselves produce. In his final work, The Fatal Conceit, he argued that the "extended order" of market society required moral traditions that constrained self-interest and facilitated trust between strangers. These traditions, often transmitted through religious institutions, provided the cultural foundation for economic development. Markets function effectively only within moral frameworks that transcend market logic itself. Education plays a crucial role in transmitting shared values across generations. Traditional education sought not merely to impart information but to form character—to cultivate virtues like honesty, responsibility, and compassion that enable social cooperation. When education focuses exclusively on technical skills or critical theory without attention to moral formation, it produces graduates who may be technically proficient but morally adrift. Restoring moral education requires balancing critical thinking with appreciation for the wisdom embedded in cultural traditions, recognizing that previous generations confronted perennial human challenges from which we can learn. Digital technologies present both challenges and opportunities for rebuilding moral consensus. Social media algorithms that prioritize outrage and division could be redesigned to facilitate understanding across differences. Online platforms could create spaces for deliberation rather than denunciation, emphasizing the search for common ground rather than competitive virtue signaling. Most importantly, digital connection must complement rather than replace face-to-face interaction, which remains essential for developing empathy and moral sensitivity. Technology should serve human relationships rather than substitute for them. Religious traditions offer valuable resources for addressing contemporary moral challenges. While secularization has diminished their institutional authority, religious perspectives continue to provide frameworks for understanding human dignity, responsibility, and purpose that transcend utilitarian calculations. The concept of Sabbath, for instance, offers a powerful alternative to consumer culture by creating regular intervals for reflection, relationship, and rest. Similarly, religious practices of forgiveness and reconciliation provide models for healing social divisions that neither market transactions nor legal processes can achieve. A pluralistic society need not embrace any particular faith tradition, but it can draw wisdom from religious insights about human flourishing.

Summary

The fundamental insight emerging from this analysis is that human flourishing depends on a delicate balance between individual autonomy and moral community - a balance disrupted by the extreme individualism characterizing recent decades. The evidence from psychology, sociology, economics, and political science converges on a striking conclusion: we have systematically underestimated how deeply our wellbeing depends on shared ethical frameworks and social bonds that transcend self-interest. This recognition does not require abandoning the genuine achievements of individual liberty, but rather situating that liberty within moral contexts that give it meaning and sustainability. The path forward requires neither wholesale rejection of modernity nor uncritical embrace of tradition, but rather creative integration of individual freedom with communal responsibility. This integration happens primarily through covenant relationships characterized by mutual commitment rather than mere transaction. By rebuilding moral communities at multiple levels - from families and neighborhoods to businesses and nations - we can address the loneliness, polarization, and loss of meaning that plague contemporary life. The task is difficult but essential, not merely for social harmony but for the very possibility of human flourishing in an age of unprecedented technological power and global interdependence.

About Author

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Jonathan Sacks

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Henry Sacks was the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. His Hebrew name was Yaakov Zvi.Serving as the chief rabbi in the United Kingdom from 1991 to 2013, Sacks gained fame both in the secular world and in Jewish circles. He was a sought-after voice on issues of war and peace, religious fundamentalism, ethics, and the relationship between science and religion, among other topics. Sacks wrote more than 20 books.Rabbi Sacks died November 2020 after a short bout with cancer. He was 72.

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