This chapter explores the breakdown and deformation of institutions, such as educational, religious, political, and corporate institutions. It discusses the impact of anxious institutions on pastors and politicians, who are forced to take on roles outside of their defined responsibilities. The chapter also delves into the importance of trust in institutions and the consequences of mistrust.
In the diagnosis of the epidemic of anxiety sweeping through society, the examination has tended to focus on individual risk factors or macro-social trends (like social media and smartphone adoption among teens). But this misses something going on at the intermediary level between individuals and mass society: the state of the institutions that shape so much of our daily life. Curtis is joined by renowned scholar Yuval Levin in exploring the concept of “the anxious institution.” They make the case that institutions both externally cause and internally experience anxiety in fascinating and important ways.