The Diagnosis Catalog

Lindblom discusses several diagnoses with the aim of “providing examples of how society affects our well, being and makes it difficult for us to live in a judicious manner” (2023, 31). Lindblom includes “objectification/alienation, the breakdown of norms/disorientation, efficiency/stress and loss of meaning, inequality/powerlessness, consumerism/discontent, and superficial interaction/indifference and fragmentation” (2023, 31). Lindblom writes that the aim is not to “present a comprehensive catalog” (2023, 31). This section attempts to provide precisely such a more comprehensive catalog of sociological diagnoses. This is done using Aristotelian balance theory as a framework (Berglund, 2026). This creates a certain order among the multitude of diagnoses that can be made. In this heuristic catalog of diagnoses, most will be addressed briefly, while a few will be explored in greater depth.

There is merit in keeping the number of diagnoses quantitatively low, as Lindblom does, to ensure clarity. Here, however, the choice is made to include various similar diagnoses that nonetheless capture nuances of experiences and conditions. However, the framework presented by ABT (Berglund, 2026) provides structure and context for the complexity and diversity of sociological diagnoses that can be incorporated, thereby increasing their generalizability. This makes it easier to discuss sociological conditions by identifying similarities in how different thinkers have formulated their various diagnoses of the present.

These diagnoses should be viewed as heuristics, cultural technologies, tools, sensitizing concepts, and support for constructing a sociologically grounded formulation of the difficulties one faces. Furthermore, they are often quite humorous compared to psychiatric diagnoses. Some examples include functional stupidity (Alvesson & Spicer, 2016), atomized (Lipset, 1963), shitty life syndrome (Jacoby, 1996), zombified (Ryan, 2012), alienation (Rosa, 2019), a blasé attitude (Simmel, 1971), disenchantment (Weber, 2001), compassion fatigue (Mestrovic, 1996), consumed by passions / desire fatigue (Sennett, 2002, Durkheim, 1950; Mestrovic, 1996), pseudo, communication (Illouz, 2008; Reisman, 1950), trivialized (Lefebvre, 1991), the happy robots (Mills, 1959), depressive hedonism (Fisher, 2011), enlightened false consciousness (Sloterdijk, 1984), medicalized (Conrad, 2007), one-dimensional thinking (Marcuse, 1964), manipulative personality (Adorno & Horkheimer, 2002, Jackall, 2010), colonized by the system world (Habermas, 1984), mediocritized (Deneault, 2018; Berglund, 2026), low emotional energy and out of rhythm (Collins, 2004), emotional dissonance (Hochschild, 2003), outsourced self (Hochschild, 2012), privatized and intimized (Sennett, 2002), lifestylified (Berglund, 2026), temporal followership (Berglund, 2026), dumbed, down citizenship (Berglund, 2026), spectacularized (Postman, 1984), technologized (Postman, 1991), hobbyfied (Berglund, 2026), infantilized (Barber, 2007, Nieman, 2013), cruel optimism (Berlant, 2011), militant fragility (Szetela, 2025), the uncooperative self (Sennett, 2013), elitified (Berglund, 2026), etc.

A sociological diagnosis can be viewed in terms of its symptoms and etiology, just like psychiatric diagnoses. I will give two examples: low emotional energy and being out of rhythm (Collins, 2004), as well as what might be called “status survivalism” (Hiltunen, 2017).

Low emotional energy and being out of rhythm (Collins, 2004)

Diagnostic criteria: low energy level, low momentum, low subjective well, being, passivity, frustration

Etiology: failed social interactions (Collins, 2004), nothing to be proud of, inequality, discrimination, marginalization, lack of recognition, atomization through various technologies such as computers or cell phones, atomization through infrastructure such as individualized housing and car culture, post, social socialities.

Status Survivalism (Hiltunen, 2017)

Diagnostic criteria: Focus on status; the desire to be “just perfect enough”; stress; self, centeredness; self, esteem linked to a personal struggle rather than a civic struggle (Berglund, 2026); identity fundamentalism (Moehller & D’Ambriaso, 2021); lack of social support, lack of a sense of coherence (Antonovsky, 1979; Hiltunen, 2017).

Etiology: care deficit, the tyranny of perfectionism (Hiltunen, 2017), false awareness of alternatives beyond the status struggle, lack of buffer zones (Hiltunen, 2017), consumerism and cell phone use (Hiltunen, 2017), discrimination based on appearance and personality (Collins, 2004).

5.1 Sociological Diagnoses Using ABT as a Framework

Above, I have presented proposals for how sociological diagnoses can be defined based on various thinkers, providing a heuristic starting point when using the concept. The concept should not be reified in the same way as is attempted in psychiatric diagnostics. Following this, proposals for various criteria are presented, followed by etiology, that is, causes.

Below is a catalog of various diagnoses in a condensed version, without delving into causes or criteria. The primary purpose is to offer a suggestion of what the catalog might contain, linked to a framework that establishes a systematic classification of the multitude of sociological diagnoses that have been made.

Below is a review of imbalances/misalignments across 19 different balance dimensions. Imbalances are a proposed framework for understanding sociological diagnoses. Above, I have reviewed examples of some sociological diagnoses that will be embedded within the ABT framework. First comes a brief explanation of the balance dimension, followed by a brief explanation of what a state of balance is within each dimension. These diagnoses are heuristic proposals because the identified imbalances are heuristic (Berglund, 2026).

The following is a partially abridged version of Chapter 4 of The Mediocre Society and Aristotelian Balance Theory (Berglund, 2026). In that chapter, I presented a catalog of sociological diagnoses that can be applied at various levels. This is considered necessary so that readers of this book will not need to read the earlier book. However, these books should be viewed as complementary to one another, since the ideas behind both books originated in sociotherapy and sociological diagnoses. ABT came later as a way to frame the diagnoses. Using a partially abridged version of that chapter is considered reasonable, given that the majority of this book consists of other, new content, as I explained in Section 1.2. Potential contributions claimed by this study. Because the text has been abridged and modified, much of the reasoning underlying why a balance dimension has been constructed as it has and what constitutes a state of balance within that dimension will not be as well, founded as in Berglund (2026). The focus here is primarily on imbalances as sociological diagnoses. In Section 6, “Socioaskes and Sociopharmaka,” states of balance will be discussed further in the context of how one can become less unbalanced.