NEGATRENDS: LARGER MACROSOCIAL ISSUES THAT HAVE BESET AMERICAN SOCIETY IN THE LAST THIRTY YEARS
Dr. Ivan Chompalov, Dr. Lubomir Popov

Abstract
In the past thirty years a large body of research was devoted to the so-called ―megatrends,‖ such as a transition to an information society from an industrial one; from a national economy to a global market place; from centralization to decentralization; and several others. While these new developments are mostly positive, the focus of this paper is on a different and not so well-researched topic—negative trends which have germinated in American society that we term ―negatrends.‖ Using various sources of data, we identify ten such negatrends: rampant individualism and preference for the laissez faire; the fusion of big money and big politics which undermines democracy; the ―wilding of America;‖ the switch from long-term to short-term focus; the strong belief in American exceptionalism; growing anti-intellectualism; intolerance for other viewpoints; extreme consumerism; overemphasis on quantity rather than quality; rising insecurity and fear. The implications and consequences of these negative longitudinal trends are discussed.

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