Why Is The West Losing Hope? The Psychology of Societies in Crisis

A great pleasure and honor to have back on the show one of my favorite and most popular guests, existential philosopher Professor Sheldon Solomon. Our earlier show - on August 28, 2025 - is one of my top 3 shows of nearly 100 to date. Last time around we focused on getting inside the heads of Putin and Trump. This time around, rather than focusing on individuals, I wanted to take a broader view of things and focus on societies. This feels like a natural continuation of our previous conversation, moving from the psychology of leaders to the psychology of societies and civilizations. The world has only gotten more crazy and dangerous since we last spoke so for that reason I wanted to speak with Professor Solomon to discuss how these rising existential threats - AI, threats of nuclear war, War in Ukraine, War in Iran, climate change, etc - are reshaping politics, democracy, and Western civilization. I admit, we started off a bit depressing (to say the least) but ended up on a positive note. Listen to the end so you don't get too discouraged!About Professor Sheldon SolomonProfessor Sheldon Solomon is an American social psychologist. He is a professor of psychology and existential philosophy at Skidmore College in New York. His studies of the effects of the uniquely human awareness of death on behavior were featured in the award winning documentary film Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality. He is co-author of The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. To connect and message with Mark on LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mcnamee-58950910 To learn more, visit:https://ubn.network/ Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:https://missionmatters.com/author/Mark-McNamee/ If you found this episode valuable, follow the podcast and share it with someone who wants to better understand the war in Ukraine.