The Decline of Deviance 2

Digitally native young people show flatter cultural preferences because they sample multiple past decades evenly, so nostalgia does not peak around a single childhood era.

People often only discover what they truly like when confronted with unfamiliar art because those forced encounters push them to reject, revise, and eventually expand their tastes in ways passive choice never does.

Hyper‑fast, competitive idea markets stunt cultural experimentation because novel moves are copied and exhausted before they can spawn diverse offshoots, pushing creators toward safe, repeatable formulas.

When once‑subversive styles gain market power, commercialization strips their edge because mass production and wide distribution remove the social distance that made them identity‑forming.

Even with easier access, kids experiment less with smoking and drugs because better long‑term prospects raise the expected cost of jeopardizing future earnings, education, or health.

Higher living standards raise the opportunity cost of pursuing art because stable jobs with pay and benefits become attractive alternatives, so fewer people accept extreme deprivation for creative careers.

As prosperity spreads, tolerance grows because businesses and politicians lose by excluding newly wealthy or enfranchised groups, so rivals who serve them outcompete exclusionary actors and make diverse lifestyles viable.

Selling to a global audience flattens culture because creators must avoid anything that might alienate any market, so content is toned down and homogenized to maximize reach.