A toxic recipe for social disconnect and disaffection

Look around the world and you would think the world is burning and Australian society is burning with it. 

Wars and conflict in the Middle East, Ukraine, Africa and most other continents, deep political polarisation, racial tension and a prolonged cost-of-living crisis stand out at the international level and combine with and propel homegrown racial hatred and violence toward Jewish, Muslim, Indigenous and Indian Australians (and almost everyone else).

This creates a toxic mix, bad for people’s sense of connection, belonging, empathy and trust in each other. In sum, bad for one of the political buzzwords of 2026: Australia’s social cohesion.

And while the Mapping Social Cohesion study points a certain resilience in Australia’s social cohesion, there are clear indicators of a society under strain: financial pressures, partisan disaffection with the political system and negativity toward different immigrant and faith groups and where racism and financial deprivation impacts people’s sense of self, security and belonging. 

In truth though, life goes on for most people and the external factors that swirl around us do not necessarily deeply penetrate our daily lives or how we interact in our communities and with our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. In fact, that is where much of the resilience of our social cohesion resides. 

However, if survey data are to be believed, we are witnessing some longer-term shifts in our social lives – for the worse. Australians seem to have turned inward to an extent over the last 10-15 years, becoming more insular, and not in a way that people are happy about. 

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ General Social Survey, face-to-face and other contact with family and friends have been declining over the last decade and a half, along with participation and volunteering in social and community activities.

This is accompanied by evidence of rising social disconnection and loneliness recorded in the Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia (HILDA) survey, increasing pessimism and a declining sense of belonging in Mapping Social Cohesion and declining trust between people on ANU Poll.

Perhaps of most concern, the General Social Survey, Mapping Social Cohesion, ANU Poll and the World Happiness Report all suggest that Australians’ sense of happiness and life satisfaction has declined over the last 10-15 years. Happiness is not exactly in freefall, but it has steadily eroded over the years.

The importance of these declines are debatable. Ostensibly though, they suggest that even just entering the present turmoil, Australians have been less engaged in their communities and social networks and feeling lonelier and unhappier. People are hunkering down – and are sadder for it.

Economic and financial strain, the pressures of modern life and work, big social and generational change and the influence of social media are some of the main suspects in explaining why, but cannot on their own explain all.

Financial stress has been increasing, not just since the emergence of current cost-of-living pressures but over the last 15 years – set amidst stagnant real wages and deteriorating housing affordability.

Financial stress is also a strong predictor of people’s sense of belonging, trust, fairness and intercultural attitudes. And yet, declining belonging seems to cut across all social groups and classes.

Around one-third of people report feeling often or always rushed for time – higher for women and parents – perhaps reflecting the pressures of modern life, though in fairness, time stress does not seem to be getting worse.

In terms of generational change, younger adults have their own ways of connecting with the world. Even so, the biggest declines in belonging and life satisfaction are occurring within younger generations: they are becoming less happy and less connected over time as much as they just look different at the outset from older generations.

Social media meanwhile continues to create echo chambers and propagate misinformation and hatred. And yet, most social media users are reasonably discerning, they trust social media companies the least among societal institutions and, in general, distinguish their views from what is coming through their social media feeds.

In sum, no one factor explains the longer term erosion of social wellbeing, nor the divisiveness or disaffection of recent times. It may well come back to the toxic mix: take a society already under social and economic strain, add in current global turmoil and the result is not surprising.

Paradoxically though, herein lies a seed of optimism. People’s disaffection and disconnection are a response to the world around them. Address the underlying problems and sources of social and economic insecurity and the situation may steadily, if not quickly, improve.

Australia’s experience during the COVID-19 pandemic was a case in point. When people felt protected in terms of their health and economic wellbeing during the pandemic, they became more trusting, more emotionally connected to their communities and more accepting of differences and diversity. 

Equally important, racial hatred and violence is in urgent need of a response but still does not reflect majority opinion. We await the release of the Mapping Social Cohesion 2026 results in November to tell us more, but even in mid-2025 as the March for Australia rallies and support for One Nation were preparing for take-off, Australians were, by and large, at ease with its ethnic and cultural diversity, if not wholly supportive. 

To be sure, there are concerning levels of prejudice and discrimination towards those of different migrant backgrounds and faiths, but people generally agree, immigration, diversity and multiculturalism has been good for Australia, its economy and culture and it does not greatly matter where you were born to be a true Australian.

Nice statements along these lines do not make for a happy, cohesive and harmonious multicultural society. It takes much more than that. But this symbolic support is a useful platform. And with investments in social and community infrastructure and economic security and wellbeing, we can start cooking up something more palatable for Australia’s social cohesion.

Dr James O’Donnell is a Demographer at the Australian National University (ANU) with a research focus on social cohesion and wellbeing and their longitudinal and life course relationships with migration, population dynamics and social and economic inequalities.

This article was first published in The Klaxon and 360info.org