The word “decadence” is a metaphor that derives from “decay,” when something that was once alive decomposes.
“Decadence” as a stage of culture has a long history. The Wikipedia article on the subject gives these contemporary definitions. Historian Jacques Barzun says decadence is when “the forms of art as of life seem exhausted, the stages of development have been run through. Institutions function painfully.”
Columnist Ross Douthat, who has written a book on the subject, says decadence is a state of “economic stagnation, institutional decay and cultural and intellectual exhaustion at a high level of material prosperity and technological development.”
By these standards, contemporary American culture has become decadent. The forms of art are exhausted? Hollywood keeps making the same movies over and over. The same can be said of modern art and literature. Our institutions are indeed functioning painfully. We are indeed intellectually exhausted. And yet we have a lot of material prosperity and technological development.
I came across another definition in a book review in “Quillette,” in which Robert Zubrin concludes, “If you think that the world has had quite enough of freedom, progress, science, and reason, this is the book for you.” In the course of that takedown, he says this:
“The French historian Fernand Braudel remarks in Out of Italy that “decadence” is what occurs in a civilization when it rejects the ideas and ideals responsible for its origin and growth.”
This formulation has the virtue of being specific. And I think it holds up.
The Roman Republic was famous for its virtue, its rule of law, and the rights of its citizens. This degenerated into the decadence of the Roman Empire, notorious for its sexual depravity, its cruelty, and its absolutism.
The Victorians were famous for their propriety and their sense of duty. The later 19th century bohemians who called themselves “the Decadents” were known for their licentiousness and irresponsibility.
The United States of America is currently in the midst of a wholesale reaction against its founding and its founding principles. Elements of both the left and the right are criticizing “liberal democracy.” Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and other civil liberties are receiving little respect. Free market economics, personal liberty, limited government, individualism, and other foundational values of American culture are being repudiated from all sides.
Instead, we are getting. . .the opposite of all of these.
American culture is decomposing.
We have become decadent.
Illustration: “The Romans in Their Decadence” By Thomas Couture (1847) – Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41447559
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