Do you think society is progressing or regressing? Or neither?

There are signals of large group regression, says psychiatrist Vamik Volkan who has for many years studied the psychology of national, political, and ethnic conflict around the world.

This is a very very long article, but I’ll try to highlight the 7 points about why some in psychology believe society is actually regressing. The article can be found on psychologytoday.com - 7 Signs of Societal Regression - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-me-in-we/201806/7-signs-societal-regression

1. Loss of individual identity - a “group over individual” mentality.

2. The us vs. them split - the act of categorizing people. Some are better, some are worse.

3. Cutting family ties - not placing importance on family; parents disengaging from their children, parents not bonding with their infants; smaller families.

4. Perversion of morality - morals are skewed. Those going against immorality are attacked.

5. Purifying rituals - occur in many forms/their purpose is to repair and enhance the identity of the large group. These rituals can be benign or destructive, as when targeting a specific “other” with attacks. (Cancel culture)

6. Magnification of minor differences - hypersensitivity of one group/minor details of differentiation between it and another group or a community of people that otherwise have many similar traits.

7. Destruction of environment - collective regression is degradation of the environment. Whether forests, oceans, fisheries, or swampland, the ability of the environment to sustain life is severely compromised.

Thoughts?