Question

Bowling Alone was written by Dr. Putnam in an attempt to explain the reduction in civic engagement in the United States. Part of his argument is civic engagement has decreased due to the absence of social capital.

Respond to the following statement: “Civic engagement among community members is essential for public policy decision making and the creation of social capital is mandatory. To assure adequate public policy decisions, the individual must participate, but without regard to personal gain either in monetary gain or personal aggrandizement. All should be for the good of the community. As Mr. Spock stated in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.’ This must be true for all situations and all decisions.”

Answer 1

It is true that there needs to be some form of engagement amongst community members in order to promote a sense of belonging. When individuals feel that they truly belong to a society, that is when public policy decision making is undertaken with the view of fulfilling the needs of everyone in the society.

When community members engage in making a difference in one's community, the members take into cognizance how others will benefit and how the overall knowledge, skill-set, values and motivations could help enhance and help make a difference in a society.

Public decision making should be more inclusive and it helps to create a greater level of understanding, trust and cooperation within communities. Only when individuals participate without regard to personal gain in terms of monetary means, etc. long lasting solutions can be found in order to better improve the standard of living and ensure economic development of a region.

When the entire society is represented when a community performs well, it leads to a higher level of participation and where a society isn't in need of any heroes but a group of individuals who bring people together in order to create effective public policies empowering the entire community. Thus in order to increase civic engagement, social capital needs to increase and a community is empowered all together.