Humans are inherently social animals, and they form cultures in order to meet their social needs. The problem, from a psychological point of view, is that modernity appears to have short-circuited some of the effectiveness of traditional cultures. This is demonstrated by anthropological studies that show how many non-western societies bestow a sort of cultural immunisation against the psychological troubles that are now rampant in the modern west.
Among the most fundamental needs cultures seem to satisfy is a feeling of social connectedness and, at the same time, of individual identity. It is only through continuing contact with others that one comes to have a sense of who one is. Cultures also provide the opportunity for the seemingly universal urge to participate meaningfully in rituals, for drama and transcendence, for intellectual stimulation and for personal growth.
But modern societies are shot through with a few 'megatrends' that go against the grain of our deeply social nature, claims clinical psychologist John Schumaker. One of these megatrends is 'detraditionalisation'. Unlike healthier primitive cultures, modern ones are not firmly set in a web of customs and conventional practices. Without this stable network of cultural 'givens', even the most basic processes need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Thus, life requires constant cultural, political and institutional vigilance and innovation.
The individual is relatively unfettered by traditions, yes. But this means being personally inundated with choices and demands.
Inevitably, this is overwhelming and destabilising, and people in modern societies tend to have an underlying feeling of helplessness. Typically, they enter the tussle in one or two domains but, for the most part, they resign themselves to being pawns in large bureaucratic systems such as modern markets.
Another result and component of modern life cited by Dr Schumaker is the free-floating structure of identity among so many modern people. Most moderns would feel intolerably stifled by the conformist and confining demands of a traditional society such as the one in which their grandparents lived their lives - in which everyone 'knew their place'. Yet most people are barely aware of the heavy price they pay for the lack of such structure.
Traditional cultures give their members the chance to adopt, and feel supported by, socially approved identity templates. Fitting in means a person has recourse to shared cultural coping strategies in difficult times. People in modern cultures have the option to reinvent themselves, but they also have to devise their own coping strategies, and they struggle to make up their own answers to the great moral and spiritual questions in life.