The Revolt Against Institutions Is 2021’s Defining Story

In 2020 we came to terms with the pandemic, in 2021 we responded.

Alex Kantrowitz
Marker
Published in
4 min readDec 17, 2021

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Photo by MIKE STOLL on Unsplash

The history of 2021, when written, will have plenty to cover: The unrelenting pandemic that claimed more lives after a vaccine than before; the attack on the U.S. Capitol that threatened to upend American democracy; the broken supply chain that sparked inflation; the climate crisis that carried on despite global concern.

When we look back on 2021, however, no story will be more consequential than the people’s revolt against institutions. In recent memory, there hasn’t been a single year where so many people told society’s pillars to buzz off. Instead of holding jobs, they chose to resign. Instead of making safe investments, they chose meme stocks. Instead of political orthodoxy, they chose to vote independent.

Our institutions — work, government, community organizations, and places of worship — are meant to uphold a certain bargain. We expect a degree of stability for the faith we put in them. We allow them to run the foundation of our lives, and accept some self-dealing and corruption, but in return we expect them to protect us from extreme negative scenarios.

In 2020, the coronavirus upended the contract. For the trust we put in our institutions, they proved unable to harness Covid-19. Worse, they often seemed two-faced in their efforts. We expected them to shield us from doomsday scenarios, yet more than five million people died from Covid, with more than 800,000 of them in the U.S. alone. And while it may be unfair to ask institutions to restrain a microscopic virus with a tendency to maim and kill, that’s essentially the deal they’re stuck with. And so far, they’ve come up short.

While we came to terms with the shock of Covid-19 in 2020, we responded in 2021. The reaction, in some cases, has been predictable. After accepting that jobs won’t keep us safe or secure in the long term, for instance, we quit in record numbers. The so-called Great Resignation is one of the rare trends that lives up to its billing. More than 4 million people are quitting their jobs each month, with no end in sight. In exiting, people are telling employers that they understand they’re being exploited, and they’d rather live life than suffer…

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Alex Kantrowitz
Marker

Veteran journalist covering Big Tech and society. Subscribe to my newsletter here: https://bigtechnology.substack.com.