Weak Societal Integration

3. Factors That Make Conflict Intractable

Robert Putnam is famous for his book Bowling Alone which documents the breakdown of social ties in the United States. The book was based on a similar essay, written in 1995; the book was published in 2000. The problem has greatly worsened since then.

Yet, societal integration is essential in keeping societies together. Without it, it is easy for both internal divisive actors and external enemies to ferment strong enough conflicts to break a society apart. In an effort to speed up writing this essay, Examples of weak societal integration and the harms that result include:

Ethnic and racial segregation. Harms: Reinforces negative stereotypes and prejudice due to lack of exposure; creates unequal access to quality schools, jobs, and health care; fuels mistrust, resentment, and sometimes violent conflict.
Economic inequality and class segregation: Harms: Same as above, plus, reduces empathy between groups, resentment and social unrest increase when poor groups feel excluded or humiliated, and political polarization deepens as elites and working class citizens live and work in different places, have divergent interests, and little to no interaction.
Political polarization: Harms: Reduces willingness to work with or compromise for "the other side" which weakens democratic institutions, increases the demonization and dehumanization of political opponents, which heightens risk of political violence and authoritarian responses.
Religious and cultural fragmentation: Harms: Weakens national identity and shared civic culture, reinforces negative stereotypes and increases distrust between groups, encourages leaders to mobilize support through exclusionary and extremist rhetoric.
Marginalization of immigrants and refugees: Harms: Wastes human potential as skilled workers cannot contribute to the society; alienation and disconnection can foster radicalization and inter-generational resentment; society loses opportunities for cultural and economic enrichment.
Weak integration of rural and urban populations: Harms: Rural populations may disengage from politics or support populist leaders who promise to be "their revenge." Elite may have policy blind spots (i.e., health care, education, infrastructure) that widen inequality.

In short, weak societal integration erodes trust, increases inequality, reduces resilience, and heightens the risk of destructive conflict. Strong integration, by contrast, fosters cooperation, empathy, and stability. That's the reason for the title of the recent film Join or Die, a term, I just learned, which originated with Benjamin Franklin who drew a political cartoon with the same title showing a cut apart snake, meant to represent the disunity in the American colonies in the context of the French and Indian War in 1754.