Home
Economy
Economy
by
charleshughsmith
Executive Summary
- The erosion of community is due to many factors
- Understanding these factors enables us to begin combating them
- The 10 reasons American social capital is declining
- What it will take for a revival in social cooperation
If you have not yet read The Erosion of Community, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
In Part 1, we surveyed a number of explanations for the erosion of community, starting with the landmark 1950 book, The Lonely Crowd, and found that no one theory adequately accounted for the decline of social capital in America.
Here are ten other factors that could be factors in this long-term erosion:
1. The explosion of choices in the mass media (mentioned by Robert Putnam and Kevin K.) now offers endless opportunities to form a protective bubble around oneself: if you only want to hear views that confirm your existing biases, it's now very easy to do so, and you don’t even need to go out into the real world to do so.
Since confirming our own beliefs is safe and comfortable, our collective reaction may be to avoid people who might disagree with us. Eventually, such isolated individuals “socializing” in self-selected groups online lose the ability to function productively in diverse groups of real people in a real community.
2. The mobility demanded of labor. The mobility of labor in America–that workers can pull up stakes and move to better job opportunities–is often lauded as the key to the U.S. economy's flexibility and resilience. This is no doubt true, but that mobility eviscerates community: if you move every 2-3 years (as required of military personnel, Corporate America managers and many others), what's the motivation for joining and contributing to local groups?…
The 10 Factors Destroying our Social Health
PREVIEW by charleshughsmithExecutive Summary
- The erosion of community is due to many factors
- Understanding these factors enables us to begin combating them
- The 10 reasons American social capital is declining
- What it will take for a revival in social cooperation
If you have not yet read The Erosion of Community, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
In Part 1, we surveyed a number of explanations for the erosion of community, starting with the landmark 1950 book, The Lonely Crowd, and found that no one theory adequately accounted for the decline of social capital in America.
Here are ten other factors that could be factors in this long-term erosion:
1. The explosion of choices in the mass media (mentioned by Robert Putnam and Kevin K.) now offers endless opportunities to form a protective bubble around oneself: if you only want to hear views that confirm your existing biases, it's now very easy to do so, and you don’t even need to go out into the real world to do so.
Since confirming our own beliefs is safe and comfortable, our collective reaction may be to avoid people who might disagree with us. Eventually, such isolated individuals “socializing” in self-selected groups online lose the ability to function productively in diverse groups of real people in a real community.
2. The mobility demanded of labor. The mobility of labor in America–that workers can pull up stakes and move to better job opportunities–is often lauded as the key to the U.S. economy's flexibility and resilience. This is no doubt true, but that mobility eviscerates community: if you move every 2-3 years (as required of military personnel, Corporate America managers and many others), what's the motivation for joining and contributing to local groups?…
by
Chris Martenson
Argentina is a country re-entering crisis territory it knows too well. The country has defaulted on its sovereign debt three times in the past 32 years, and looks poised to do so again soon.
Its currency, the peso, devalued by more than 20% in January alone. Inflation is currently running at 25%. Argentina's budget deficit is exploding and, based on credit default swap rates, the market is placing an 85% chance of a sovereign default within the next five years.
Want to know what it's like living through a currency collapse? Argentina is providing us with a real-time window.
So, we've invited Fernando "FerFAL" Aquirre back onto the program to provide commentary on the events on the ground there. What is life like right now for the average Argentinian?
FerFAL: Here’s What It Looks Like When Your Country’s Economy Collapses
by Chris MartensonArgentina is a country re-entering crisis territory it knows too well. The country has defaulted on its sovereign debt three times in the past 32 years, and looks poised to do so again soon.
Its currency, the peso, devalued by more than 20% in January alone. Inflation is currently running at 25%. Argentina's budget deficit is exploding and, based on credit default swap rates, the market is placing an 85% chance of a sovereign default within the next five years.
Want to know what it's like living through a currency collapse? Argentina is providing us with a real-time window.
So, we've invited Fernando "FerFAL" Aquirre back onto the program to provide commentary on the events on the ground there. What is life like right now for the average Argentinian?
by
Adam Taggart
Today, the pundits are a-buzz making sense of the latest lackluster jobs report. Expect much hand-wringing over the impact of the 'polar vortex' and that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow.
But most of us care more about the state of one particular job: our own. How relevant is this latest bit of data to that? Not very.
So, to better understand the trends in the work environment most likely impact our own paychecks, it will help to look at another bellwether similar to our fuzzy groundhog friend: AOL.
You’ve Got No Job!
by Adam TaggartToday, the pundits are a-buzz making sense of the latest lackluster jobs report. Expect much hand-wringing over the impact of the 'polar vortex' and that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow.
But most of us care more about the state of one particular job: our own. How relevant is this latest bit of data to that? Not very.
So, to better understand the trends in the work environment most likely impact our own paychecks, it will help to look at another bellwether similar to our fuzzy groundhog friend: AOL.
Total 3394 items
Community
by hgrootveldgmail-com 
Privacy Academy
Learn more