In two words… social mood!
Since 2003, Merriam-Webster has closed out every calendar year with a single word to define the full essence of that year. On December 9, 2024, they chose the “Word of the Year” for 2024: Polarization.
From The Guardian, Dec. 9:
In a brutally divided country, the US’s premier dictionary skipped the slang: Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is “polarization.”
The announcement comes in an election year that put the concept on display, as Kamala Harris warned of fascism under Donald Trump, while Trump resorted to name-calling and claimed his opponent was running on “destruction.” As the dictionary put it, polarization “happens to be one idea that both sides of the political spectrum agree on.”
So, polarization is actually the Great Unifier? Hardly!
Our “Must-Read Highlights from the Socionomist” report sheds light on why Americans have gone from reaching across the aisle to – BLOCK, CANCEL, BLACKLIST, and WALL OFF. Chapter 3 of the must-read report begins:
– Polarization Inc.: The Disunited States of America –
In a bull market people tend toward consensus, and everybody more or less agrees. Usually that begets a middle-of-the-road psychology. In a bear market you get polarization. On one side you get the people who want to militarize the entire world and on the other side you get people who want to rid themselves completely of state intervention
[Predictions for the years, decades ahead as negative social mood accelerates …]
Given the polarization that I expect, the question becomes, which side will win? Frankly, my initial response is, I don’t know and we’ll have to find out. If I were forced to take my best guess, I would have to say that it’s more likely that the forces of control will win, for two reasons. First, that’s the general drift since the founding of the country and is usually the general drift from the founding of any free society. Look at Rome, England, or any of the European countries that were leaders of the world for a while. They’re all tied up in red tape and socialism now. A second reason is, as I said, we’re entering a Grand Supercycle bear market.
– August 2001 Elliott Wave Theorist
The all-time peak in stocks priced in real money – the barometer for social mood — occurred in 2000. Prices have collapsed 60% in value since, fueling a wellspring of social division and political polarization.
Club Elliott Wave members can read the full Polarization Inc.: The Disunited States of America chapter of the “Must-Read Highlights from the Socionomist” report – for just $2/month — which also includes these chapters:
- Russia: From Bull Market to Global Bully
- Authoritarianism Across the Globe
- Epidemics: Spanish Flu to Covid 19
- Marijuana Legalization Movement