One famous political economist has opined that the western society will wither away once the wheels of economic growth now spinning fast slows down or cease.  He fears that the pillars of the modern society which are democracy, social tolerance, individual liberties etc will become increasingly awkward with the reduction in resources and the rejection for outside people which will be the outcome of economic instability. If the wheels of economics are not turning at a faster speed there is no way to keep the culture intact and the result will be complete social collapse.

Modern Society Concepts

History has many such examples to show in its vast experience. Regardless of the present smoothness, everything can come to a standstill as soon as the situation changes. Putting aside catastrophic events like nuclear attack, deadly pandemic, and asteroid strike history shows us evidences of a plethora of factors that can result in the collapse of an entire society or its cultural frame work. Is there any such factors existing in the present world?  If so, what are they? How far they have progressed? Have we reached a no return point? These are some of the vital questions which require immediate answers.

Though it is not possible to predict the future of culture with mathematical precision on can get natural hints to the point where it is treading to. A group of scientists of the University of Maryland conducted scientific study about the sustainability or collapse of culture and it was published in the year 2014. As per this report there are two factors that determine the growth or decay of culture and they are economic stratification and ecological strain.

Ecological category

Ecological category is considered as the most prominent factor is determining the potential doom.  Resources like soil, groundwater, natural resources, forests etc can be affected by climatic changes. Different Governments are now taking preventive steps against the deterioration of ecological factors and this has already begun to show results. The forests and water resources are protected as a national wealth by different countries and any attempt to encroach or use it for private purposes has been controlled or banned by preventive laws enforced by the local governments.

Economic stratification

Economic stratification can lead to the breakage of the social structure which is a natural path to the decline and weakening of the cultural heritage. Under this category the elite people push the common man to instability by hoarding wealth and resources.    Working class suffers because of the low quantity of wealth available to them.   The inequalities we see both within the countries and within the families point to such disparities. 10 % of the world population which comes under the elite class is more responsible for the green house emissions than the bottom 90 % of the less privileged.