Paranoids, Factoids, and Opioids: The Social Consequences of the Destruction of Cultural Scripts for Left-Behind Men

In this article I discuss the role that the social disorganization accompanying globalization plays in producing a demographic I refer to as “left behind” men. I suggest that much of the public gender and ethnic violence in recent years in the developed and developing world is a product of this demographic and suggest that the “left behind” dynamic is also a factor in the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States. Our attempts to create a more just and equitable world will be stymied unless we find new cultural scripts for men that extend beyond the role of breadwinner and patriarch.