Insights & Analysis
Evidence-based commentary examining where America’s stated values collide with political behavior, public policy, culture, and everyday life.
Eight lenses for understanding moral strain
Browse the latest reporting below or use these themes to understand how each story fits the Index.
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The Fall of Organized Labor in America
💼 Work ← Back to All Articles In 1983, one in five American wage earners belonged to a union. Today it’s one in ten.…
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Is College Still Worth It? Confidence in Higher Education Erodes
🎓 Education ← Back to All Articles In 2015, 57% of Americans said they had a great deal or quite a lot of confidence…
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Watched: The Normalization of Surveillance in American Life
📷 Surveillance ← Back to All Articles Somewhere between the office and the front porch, America quietly agreed to be watched. Not by a…
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The Erosion of Public Health Trust in America
🏥 Health ← Back to All Articles In the spring of 2025, three out of four Americans said they trusted the CDC’s health recommendations.…
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Who’s Going to Fix It? America’s Vanishing Skilled Trades Workforce
🔧 Trades ← Back to All Articles More than one in five construction workers in America is over 55. Over a fifth of plumbers…
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Seeing Isn’t Believing Anymore: Deepfakes and the Collapse of Media Trust
📰 Institutions ← Back to All Articles Just 56 percent of American adults now say they trust national news organizations at least somewhat —…
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Burned Out and Checked Out: American Workers Are Quietly Giving Up
💼 Work ← Back to All Articles Only 31 percent of American employees say they’re engaged at work. That’s the lowest figure Gallup has…
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Nobody’s Volunteering Anymore: The Quiet Collapse of Civic Life in America
🤝 Signals ← Back to All Articles In 2019, roughly 30 percent of Americans formally volunteered — a coat drive, a Little League scoreboard,…
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No One to Call: The Collapse of Adult Friendship in America
🤝 Signals ← Back to All Articles In 1990, 3% of American men said they had no close friends. Today it’s 15% — a…
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News Deserts: What America Loses When Local Journalism Dies
📰 Institutions ← Back to All Articles America has lost more than a third of its newspapers since 2005 — roughly 3,300 of them…
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Healthcare Deserts: When Rural America Loses Its Hospital
🏥 Public Health ← Back to All Articles Somewhere in rural America, a hospital closes or stops taking new patients roughly every three weeks.…
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The Childcare Crisis: Why Raising a Family Became a Luxury
👶 Family ← Back to All Articles The national average price of full-time child care hit $13,184 a year in 2025. In most states,…