Civic Engagement

953 Words4 Pages
Soci-205-501 Civic Engagement Paper In the article “Bowling Alone:America’s Declining Social Capital”, Robert D. Putnam discusses the decrease of social or civic engagement during the late twentieth century. He states that success and trust are more commonly found in a civically engaged community versus a non civically engaged community. Using his research on the subject of civic engagement he shows that social capital and engagement in communities has declined. Organizations such as church related groups, boy scouts, PTA, and most importantly involvement in politics have seen a sharp decline over the years. Americans have withdrawn from face to face organizations like those above, preferring organizations that require little engagement…show more content…
I was the class president during which I was in charge of fundraising for our class trip and setting up graduation. I was involved in many service-based organizations, these include Junior Ambassadors, Student Council and National Honor Society (NHS), and each group required that I met a certain amount of volunteer hours. Student Council revolved around volunteering at school events while Jr. Ambassadors and NHS revolved around volunteering for the community. Every year I was involved in Dream Makers where we bought toys for underprivileged kids during Christmas. During Thanksgiving I collected and sorted food for Food for Families. The biggest event that most of the community was involved in would have been Relay for Life; everyone would join together as a community and volunteer. Here at Texas A&M I am not currently involved. I am researching organizations that I would like to join next semester and plan on joining at least…show more content…
Younger Americans these days are very much involved in the communities. I have noticed that some of my underprivileged peers are not as involved as much as I am. The gap that Putnam and Sander talk about between upper middle class and the lower middle class’ involvement grows wider each year. The latter of the two finds no interest in becoming involved within the community. Being born in 1995, I would be classified as the end of the 9/11 generation; I was too young at the time to remember what had happened that day yet like the kids that are the older ones in the generation I and many others my age are socially engaged. My explanation for this is that the involvement of the true 9/11 generation has affected my peers and myself almost as much as it has affected their own generation. Looking at younger aged kids I do not see this trend decreasing anytime soon. Sander, Thomas H., and Robert D. Putnam. "Still Bowling Alone?: The Post-9/11 Split." (2009). Putnam, Robert D. "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social

More about Civic Engagement

Open Document