hedonic lag. Lane says that there is a tendency of every culture to persist in valuing the qualities that made it distinctively great long after they have lost their hedonic yield. This, he says, explains a lot of the malaise currently afflicting market democracies. The combination of hedonic lag with the mixture of psychological benefits and ecological costs of the culture's emphasis on autonomy and control makes it extremely difficult for a society to get things right.
Lane observes that every culture tends to cling to the qualities that once made it exceptional, even when those elements no longer provide the same pleasure or satisfaction, a phenomenon he refers to as "hedonic lag." This lingering attachment to outdated values contributes to a sense of dissatisfaction and malaise within market democracies, as societies struggle to adapt to changing circumstances and needs.
Moreover, Lane highlights how the intersection of hedonic...