The cold war was at least as much about small scale conflicts between bosses and workers, old and young, white and coloured, men and women, gay and straight as it was about large scale conflict between West and East. The idea that there was a frozen war between West and East provided the locally powerful with a resource to crush or coopt dissent. Individual and collective dreams were stifled. The end of the cold war meant that the locally and nationally powerful have had to deploy new pictures of international relations to freeze out change. Frozen nuclear war between East and West has been replaced by the idea that there is a war between capitalist economies.
Individuals feel isolated.
They try to solve problems on their own, despite the fact that the lack of jobs means even a university degree does not guarantee satisfying employment. Young adults are set against each other as they scramble for grades or jobs. Degraded as economically supernumary people, many are angry. This anger is not being allowed to assume a creative cooperation to transform society. Many turn anger inward, leading to depression.