Rapid Social Change and Long Term Trends in Societies’ and Regions’ Level of Interpersonal Destructiveness

During past 30 years many societies and regions around the world have undergone rapid social change. Some of them have experienced political transformation to democracy, others economic transformation to a market system, and some of them have simultaneously experienced both. Rapid social change can affect quality of life in these societies. In this paper, the focus is on different societies’ and regions' long-term trends in their level of interpersonal destructiveness, representing a negative side of societies’ quality of life. Using Societal Index of Interpersonal Destructiveness (SIID), which is based on nationally representative subjective data of various sources (e.g. Integrated Database of World Values Survey and European Value Survey), and national statistics of 44 societies and 7 regions around the world covering 25-year period from 1989 to 2014, the following questions are asked: (1) Inside each region have societies’ level of interpersonal destructiveness changed similarly, on the average?; (2) Inside each region how have the societies’ level of interpersonal destructiveness changed?; (3) In which regions in what period was the societies’ interpersonal destructiveness in the highest level?

Analysis demonstrate that inside each region the level of societies’ interpersonal destructiveness have changed similarly, on the average. Societies inside their regions spread out as expected: the societies’ level of interpersonal destructiveness have decreased throughout former Soviet Union (except Caucasia), Catholic Eastern Europe, and MENA, Orthodox Balkan and Caucasia regions while being stable low in Protestant Europe, Catholic Western Europe and Anglophone regions. Moreover, the societies’ level of interpersonal destructiveness were highest in former Soviet Union (except Caucasia), Catholic Eastern Europe, and MENA, Orthodox Balkan and Caucasia regions in between 1989 to 1999 when rapid social change were experienced. These results indicate that rapid social changes affect societies’ quality of life in a negative way.