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

[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.