What Holds Society Together — and What Is Pulling It Apart?
FOREWORD On an ordinary day, everything seems to run by itself. The train arrives on time. The light turns on when you flip the switch. You open your phone and, within seconds, see what is happening all over the world. In the supermarket, products from every corner of the earth sit side by side on the shelves. It feels as if this is simply the normal course of things. As if society just exists. But ask yourself one question: what actually holds all of this together? Behind this everyday sense of self-evidence lies a web of relationships, systems, and choices. People who have never met one another work together. Decisions made in one place have consequences in places that seem far away. What appears stable turns out to depend on structures that are constantly in motion. And sometimes, this becomes visible. When a crisis breaks out. When systems seize up. When trust declines. Then we suddenly see that what seemed self-evident is not self-evident at all. This book begins with that o...