Today, within the cores of those powerful developed nations and their allies, much physical, spiritual, and psychological damage occurs socially. That is, much suffering occurs as a result of a given advanced society's regular contact with its own self, much like an engine whose violent vibrations steadily loosen bolts and wear down metal.
Before individuals are pushed into poverty and misfortune, at least when they are not already marked for such a fate via class/race/gender/sexuality/ideology/etc., their person and constitution is worn down by repeated social stress.
Indeed, part of this is life, which is already pain, in which difference crashes against itself as different plays of energy in people, other living things, places, and things follow their own courses of development, influencing each other and correcting each other.
But an advanced economy - which is at least capitalistic in nature - can only absorb so many "winners," driving competition and cultivating a hostility for challengers and "others." Conformity intensifies partially out of the fear of failure, a fear that grows as chances for successful absorption shrink, as fearful competitors monopolize more of the social arena to prevent backsliding.
So mere difference presents a constant antagonism; there are fewer chances to heal and bind, amidst a backdrop of increasing environmental and social stress.
A single slight to someone beat up enough can trigger a small depression, or a panic, leading to damaged brain cells, damage from cortisol, bad eating, further slights, and worse. In such an environment, the self appears as a shell which must protect against constant outer blows, which steadily weakens under repeated stress.
