When nostalgia becomes a trap, and what to do about it

Nostalgia is/as a trap?

Yes. It impacts societies, economies and even businesses causing irreparable damage to social welfare, innovation, progress and more if not channelised towards greater common good.

Says who?

US historian Stephanie Coontz, the author of The Way We Never Were: American Families And The Nostalgia Trap. Her recent article ‘The Nostalgia Trap’ in the Harvard Business Review is a must read for all those who want to know more about this.

Guess I fit the bill. But why nostalgia is a problem?

To be frank, it was a problem years ago. Coontz notes the term nostalgia was coined by Swiss doctor in in the the 17th century to describe the deep agony (algos) that people who had left their nostos (native) felt in those days. And this was indeed considered a disease that had the potential to kill people. For instance, during the US Civil War, Union Army doctors reported some 5,000 “serious” cases of nostalgia. Coontz says the doctors had recorded 74 nostalgia deaths during the civil war. Historical evidence shows that during the same period medical professional in Europe were animatedly debating about ways to treat home sickness and prevent it from getting contagious.

Phew! Is it that damaging today as well?

Coontz says there are two kinds of nostalgia: pathological nostalgia and healthy nostalgia. When an individual is home-sick if she is forced to live far away from her homeland, it is natural she feels nostalgic about home. Or, if your dad feels nostalgic about those 1960s and Blues, that’s just kosher. But problem arises when a group starts obsessing about their past or homeland and start viewing those who don’t fit into their straitjacketed notions of sameness as the other.

Like what?

Such nostalgia finds pleasure in gloating over a ‘great’ past, which in most cases are bogus or non-existent. Such societies start denying the racial, ethnic and family diversity of their past, as well as its social injustices, says Coontz. What happens next is they create “romanticised myths” around their homeland and their past.

Sounds familiar in our part of the world as well!

You said it! Anyone with some sense of history can demolish these claims but pathological nostalgia soon prompts people to exclude themselves (socially, economically) from others. Studies show such feelings enter even into business. Societies even create products that are tailor-made to satisfy nostalgic values. Such communities do not necessarily worry about quality of service or products but keep promoting the nostalgia economy.

Again, quite familiar to my eyes and ears!

One danger this trend causes to business is it stymies innovation and diversity in business. For instance, a sect of people decide that they don’t want ‘interlopers’ enter their society and work among them, that lead to strong anti-immigration sentiments. Considering that refugees have contributed immensely to the growth of most economies across the globe and how innovation has benefited from ‘interlopers’, this kind of nostalgia can reverse social progress. This fans exclusionary practices where those who are not in the nostalgic circle are pushed to the edges of society, leading to inequalities in income levels, social statuses and so on.

So, how to fix this?

Coontz says the solution does not lie in the wrong kind of nostalgia, as many think today. This involves what Coontz calls an “equally romanticised vision of modernisation and innovation”... some kind of a “future nostalgia” or “modernisation-sickness”. Communities and businesses should promote diversity and inclusive resource distribution, which means all communities including the ‘others’ should get opportunities to work and earn, and getting out of the nostalgia trap would lead to less inequality and more diversity in society.

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