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they are actually made to quickly degrade when exposed to the elements so if you drop it in public it will not stay around forever for someone to find

It just feels like very sturdy paper. There may be denim involved in the making of it but you absolutely can easily tear them. I've had to replace one before when it got torn accidently

i know that US currency is actually a textile, not paper-- it's 25% linen and 75% cotton. not sure about social security cards, but there is precedent for using fabric and other textiles in the creation of government documents, and it's specifically to make them more durable.

https://www.bep.gov/currency/how-money-is-made

It's just a form of national identification number. It's assigned at birth, and is used as a means to legally identify an individual for government purposes (taxes, benefits, acquiring licenses and other forms of identification). They exist in Europe as well, they are just called something different than SSN. Not every country uses them, though.

identification for like taxes and whatnot

what do y'all have over there?

There is. I had to replace mine due to a flood.

https://www.ssa.gov/number-card/replace-card