| The early 2020s have been described as an “existential moment” for the United States by pundits and the public because of the culmination of many factors which cause uncertainty in the practices and culture of Americans. Polarization, geographic sorting, and increased political instability are cited as symptoms of this notion. This dissertation usesboth existential and post-structural philosophy to examine some of the possible contributing factors to the urgency and division in American culture experienced at this time. Rapid changes in techne, or the means by which tasks are accomplished, the American mental health crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic are demonstrated as contributing factors to the cultural divisions witnessed among Americans. Utilizing current scholarship on the disruptive nature of new technologies and data on diseases of despair, this dissertation argues that the divisions among Americans are a result of real conflicts in interest between groups that experience different cultural and economic realities. As the coastal cities become more dominant in both economic and cultural terms, rural America is particularly affected by economic disruption and cultural identity problems. Many of the groups that are at a high risk of labor disruption due to changing technologies are also at a higher risk of being victims of the emerging disease of despair crisis, particularly uneducated rural white men. The maintenance of past and existing cultural notions regarding human nature as an inherent moral good make up an important part of this group’s identity at a time when the economic realities of changing techne are incompatible with those expectations. This conflict between culture and economic reality is a major contributing factor to the current existential crisis of culture in the American context. Keywords: Existentialism, mental health, automation, techne, political culture |