Introduction
When Socrates famously contemplated the nature of reality, he was defining a way of knowing the world in contrast to the passing epoch of Greek mythology. The earlier mindset did not have the causal references of the modern mind. Events were strung together in a lap-strake view of the world. The people of ancient Greece could see rain clouds in the smoke of a campfire because their belief systems lacked the reversible logic and unified worldview of modern consciousness.
The belief systems we hold paramount today will eventually succumb to inherent limitations in a similar manner. Invariably, established beliefs are displaced by more comprehensive views for integrating people into society. Belief systems hold their sense of truth, not just because of the fidelity of their logic, but on the strength of cultural experiences that incorporate the human element. Without these experiences, the ideologies that give meaning to our lives lose their footing; which is to say, people lose faith in their supporting belief systems.
Independent of their political and social functions, ideologies serve an underlying function akin to cultural mythology. Common beliefs, symbols and traditions evoke subjective knowledge responsible for carrying the civilization from one generation to the next. Meaningful culture plays multiple roles in the process. Awe-inspiring, heartwarming and thought-provoking events give shape to the human experience and forge a common bank of values that is drawn upon as people define their place in the world. This ineffable element of culture integrates the individual into society as it instills conviction, inspires ambitions and validates the prevailing worldview.
Entrenched institutions and consumer ideologies at the end of the late modern period no longer carry the spirit of modernism as a cultural movement. Symbols and traditions have been gutted of subjective value by commercialism and academic reductionism, and political and social hierarchies representing the democratic ideals of modernism have been co-opted by a corporate oligarchy. Without the framing experiences of culture to substantiate the ideals and values of modern society, people across the political spectrum lost faith in the established order.
Through the centuries, the introduction of new technologies has allowed major paradigm shifts to develop out of disenfranchised culture. This scenario is playing out today as society makes the transition from television-dependent majority culture to internet-engaged pluralism. The evolving social order is a monoclass of all cultural variants empowered by social media. From cliques of Facebook friends to radical political groups, the age of the ideological subculture has arrived.
A new way of processing experience and being actively engaged in society has emerged from the confluence of economic recession, culture war and social media. As techno-tribal culture rises above the discord of late modern society, the shift in values is profound; marking the end of the modern paradigm that grew out of the 19th century industrial revolution and the beginning of the neo-modern age.