The Origins of Totalitarianism
High levels of chronic loneliness can also have society wide effects. Noreena Hertz writes that Hannah Arendt was the first to discuss the link between loneliness and the politics of intolerance. In her book The Origins of Totalitarianism Arendt argues that loneliness is an essential prerequisite for a totalitarian movement to gain power. Hertz states that the link between an individual's loneliness and their likelihood to vote for a populist political party or candidate has since been supported by several empirical studies. In addition to increasing support for populist policies, Hertz argues that a society with high levels of loneliness risks eroding its ability to have effective mutually beneficial politics. Partly as loneliness tends to make people more suspicious about each other. And also as some of the ways individuals alleviate loneliness, such as technological or transactional substitutes for human companionship, can reduce peoples political and social skills, such as their ability to compromise and to see other points of view.