A Generation of Distrust

The famously irreverent Boomers were the first generation of Americans born in the shadow of the new managerial society. The “New Left” counterculture of the 1960s was, in turn, the first attempt to break the shackles of bureaucracy and conformity. New Left radicals condemned the “bewildering dependence” of Americans on “inaccessible castles wherei

Are we facing a crisis because young people are bad at civics? Or are people rightly mistrustful of the institutions that dominate their lives and skeptical about their ability to influence or change them?

they (particularly the young) wondered if the system was corrupt, if the mass society and its consumptive drive wasn’t a kind of fascist dictator and the public duped to give it the duty it called for. Particularly, the segment of young people now roaming university campuses began to wonder if conformity was actually just another word for manipulat

On the left and the right, people are losing trust in their institutions. It’s this loss of trust, both in our institutions and in our ability to change our societies, that should worry us more than the rise of any specific leader or movement.

whereas the activism I’d been raised on was fuelled by hope, what struck me most about these young people was their profound pessimism. They wanted humanity to avert disaster, but, despite politicians announcing Green Deals of many kinds, they had little hope that their societies could become much better.

A truth specific to our time is that dissent against one level of authority is now very often driven by a deeper hegemonic force. Perhaps this is why, among many younger people (Greta Thunberg notwithstanding), there is less focus on battling current leaders and more interest in divining counter-futures

The mistrust many feel for democratic institutions can be seen as greater “social attentiveness,” fuel for engagement in efforts to hold elected and bureaucratic powers responsible. This “ethos of democratic oversight”