| I just bumped into the idea of "demographic diversity" versus "moral diversity" [1]. Demographic diversity speaks to the differences in sex, race, sexual orientation, etc. A nation of immigrants, for example. Moral diversity speaks to the differences in culture, the rules a society follows. Erosion of those rules is what leads to a low trust society. I thought this was a really interesting distinction to make. It seems that the U.S. is not as high trust as it was 75+ years ago. The book I read used the example of neighbors disciplining children, which was more common in U.S. culture 75+ years ago. Today you'd worry about a parent calling the police for that. In general the idea of character has replaced with personality. Moral diversity. Live and let live. But on the other hand 75+ years ago women and minorities were more limited. We now have more demographic diversity. Which is a good thing. I would like to think that demographic diversity and a high trust society aren't mutually exclusive. Conflating the two doesn't help. [1] The Happiness Hypothesis, by Jonathan Haidt, Chapter 8, The Felicity of Virtue |
Moral diversity has always existed. What is new is that polarization between the two camps has been increasing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_polarization_in_the_...