It also makes them Obedient - note the capital O. Attitude Adjustment Centers, Secret Police, and Ministries of Thought all boost your people's Obedience, and building enough of them will even start to color your city. Your buildings become taller and more austere, lampposts have security cameras fitted, everything else gets painted gray, and finally the sky itself bleakens to reflect your city's mood - or lack thereof. Soon Men in Black are rounding up your most creative and happy Sims and "neutralizing" them.
Societies' complexity is under the hood, and tinkering with it to get the most horsepower out of your city is a fine art - but not a compulsory one. You don't lose the game if one of these Societal Energies drops too low; your city just becomes less efficient for a while. Tilted Mill wants to move away from the management model where the player spends all his time trying to keep the scales perfectly balanced. They'd rather give you more breathing room for creative expression and fun, instead.
