Certainly affluence helps cure some social problems such as starvation and crime, but it is by no means a universal solution to society's problems. An affluent society opens up a new diversity of possible lifestyles to its members, but there is also a fear that this diversity might weaken the social order essential for the maintenance of such diversity and magnanimity, and indeed the affluence itself. Japan's Social Indicators have not necessarily deteriorated with the Achievement of Affluence.
Crime is a fundamental indicator of social stability.
Also, Japan's crime rate is low compared to other major advanced countries. Many other indicators of social stability such as the unemployment, high school drop-out, and personal bankruptcy rates, as well as their underlying causal indicators, have improved with increasing affluence in Japan, but there are also some indicators which have either remained flat or even begun to deteriorate, if only slightly, since the 1980s. All in all, in comparison with other countries, there has been no unacceptable weakening of Japan's social order. However, in investigating individual lifestyle attitudes in more detail, the same survey also reveals apparently contradictory trends over time. However, recently, the support for an individualistic lifestyle has been growing not amongst the young generation, but rather amongst the pre-war generation.