Another link

[velvetpage]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/7/10/933/94851

The cost of declining social capital.

This is what I have often noticed in my students. Those who attended church or a similar religious institution usually had better literacy, better skills relating to people of all ages, and a larger range of experience generally than people of the same socio-economic class who didn't attend church. It has little to do with the religious aspects (beyond an understanding of common purpose) and everything to do with social capital.

Comments

[normanrafferty.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering what effect teh interweb (http://www.tinyurl.com/7ex4) is having on future social development. I know I personally feel more connected.

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

That's one of the big research questions right with regard to social networks. There's a woman at UCLA who's name I have conviniently forgotten who's doing a lot of work there. She's find that young people especially are forming almost tribal structures around common interests. I'll made a not of here work somewhere in my LJ almost a year ago. I'll have to dig that out so I can post links to her papers.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

More connected globally, but if you fell down the stairs and couldn't get up, how long would it be before a neighbour knocked on your door to find out where you were? I feel the same way, but as my MIL pointed out, this generation volunteers less, goes to church etc. less, spends less time in general with people than the ones before it. Before the internet, if you wanted to be connected, you had to leave your home and go meet people. You had to belong to groups within your community. Changing that has been a benefit in some ways, and a serious loss in others.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Part of the neighbour problem (someone, in Wood Green I think it was, was found to have died 3 years before folks broke in. The rent etc was being paid automatically from social services) is that people are more mobile and interact less in the community. They regard the flat etc as just a base from whence to go to work, to socialise with workmates... It's most unlikely to meet a neighbouring flat dweller by chance and there are no garden walls to chat over.

[collie13.livejournal.com]

Yes, but connected to what? ;)

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

Hey, I have a question which you may have an anwer for (or you may be able to point me towards a community that could answer this question).

The statistics I'm working on for an article indicate that between 1997/1998 and 2001/2002, the number of kids being enrolled in Junior Kindergarten in Ontario increased substantially, and steadily, both in general and in relation to how many kids in each individual cohort were enrolled in first grade two years later. Did some grades make either Junior or Senior Kindergarten mandatory, or did some school boards start offering JK when it wasn't offered before?

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Legally, kids do not have to attend school full-time until the fall of the calendar year in which they turn six (regardless of whether they were born in January or December, it's the calendar year that counts.) That means JK and SK are both optional, though highly recommended, programs. In practical terms, boards did not have to offer JK at all until quite recently. One of the debates that went on when Mike Harris was combining school boards across the province was that each new board would be forced to adopt all the programs that either board had offered previously. For example, Wentworth Board did not offer JK but did have extensive busing; Hamilton offered JK but used fewer school buses, mostly by paying for HSR passes for its high school kids. I believe 1997 was the amalgamation year, so many school boards would have gotten JK the following year that had never had it before.

Summary: 1) It's not a legal requirement, so some people skip it or take their kids out of it; 2) it started to be offered more consistently, to the point where I believe every school board is now required to offer it (though you may want to check that with the Ministry of Education.)

[collie13.livejournal.com]

I would love to have some sort of social capital group to attend regularly. They're hard to find, though, and when I tried starting one, I was not as successful as I'd hoped. Any suggestions on how to find a non-religious one? Hmm... I think I'd even accept a religious one, as long as it was more oriented towards kindness and tolerance.

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

Check for a Lions Club in your area. We're exclusively a volunteer/charity organization and most of the funds we raise go straight back into our communities, though a portion does indeed go to combat global problems, like the current program Sight First II which is working to combat blindness globally, especially "river blindness."

That and church are the ways that I'm involved with my community.

[collie13.livejournal.com]

Thank you; I'll try that.

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

Tell them Lion Kes Yocum of the Killeen Evening Lions Club told you to check them out. *S*

[renface.livejournal.com]

Is it safe to assume that my children will be less socially prepared because I am not planning to take them to church?

I went to church for years and years, and I didn't gain any social capital (save for one good friend) because people treated me just as poorly at church as they did in school or anywhere else. (If the child is considered different in one setting, he/she is likely to be considered different everywhere, it seems.)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Not at all. Church is the most common place for social capital, but it's not the only one. I'm giving my children similar experiences by hosting roleplaying games with adult friends. Any volunteer organization where people of all ages meet for a common purpose can fulfill this role.

The other thing I'm doing for my kids that I wish my parents had done for me - I explicitly teach elements of social interaction, like how to introduce themselves, how to ask another child to play, what to do if another child takes a toy out of their hands - things that kids are often expected to figure out on their own. When they can't, they are seen as awkward or shy and have more trouble building that social capital in common situations. The church connection boils down to three factors: more opportunities to practise interaction, more people to practise it on, and some common ground for a starting point. Any situation that provides these factors will provide kids with the social benefits of church.