Social capital is defined in many ways including “the individual and communal time and energy that is available for such things as community improvement, social networking, civic engagement, personal recreation, and other activities that create social bonds between individuals and groups…” or “the attitude, spirit and willingness of people to engage in collective, civic activities”.
Many of us commute to work alone daily, interact only with our monitor and keyboard for much of the day, and return home closing the garage door behind us to shut out any opportunity to engage socially with our friends or neighbors. We text, IM, email, and leave voicemails for one another instead of actually conversing. “Don’t leave home without it” was once a very successful ad slogan for a financial services company but now we think in terms of not being without our cell phone or PDA.
Take this quiz, part of a study done by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, and see how you well you score in terms of your political or social engagement.
- Which, if any, of these things have you done in the past year?
- Served as an officer of some club or organization
- Worked for a political party
- Served on a committee for some local organization
- Attended a public meeting on town or school affairs
- Attended a political rally or speech
- Wrote congressman or senator
- Signed a petition
- Held or ran for political office
- Wrote a letter to the paper
- Wrote an article for a magazine or newspaper
How many times, if any, did you do any of these activities in the past month?
- Made a contribution to charity
- Did volunteer work
- Donated blood
- Went to friends’ house for dinner or evening
- Had friends in for dinner or evening
- Went to meeting of club or civic organization
- Went to dinner at restaurant
- Went to live theater, opera, concerts
- Went to sporting event
- Went to the movies
Weaving and knitting of interpersonal relationships creates a stronger fabric of community encouraging our family units and showing our children there is more to life than nimble thumbs on a game keyboard. It also fosters positive relations in the workforce enabling employees or associates to work together in support of company goals and initiatives. And expanding our own sense of community may allow us to contribute time, talent, or treasury to organizations which serves to make our society better for all.
About those seven C’s in civic engagement- care, compassion, cooperation, contribution, consideration, collaboration and concern top my list. What’s on yours?