There are many attributes in the American democratic system that has influential importance such as citizenship and social capital. There are ideal standards of citizenship and social capital. However, contemporary America may not measure up to ideal standards of citizenship and social capital but there are practical remedies to improve it.
Citizenship has two definitions, a legal definition and an active definition but the focus is on the active definition. The active definition of citizenship can be defined as the degree to which a person identifies with and participates in the duties and responsibilities as a member of a political community. This means based on how immersed a person is in politics may decide how much action that person may conduct such as how informed a person is with issues affecting their community. One of the …show more content…
Social capital can be referred as the features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit. Social capital can be measured by engagement in PTA attendance, association groups, voting, etc. Social capital is important because it can cause politics advertises to be conquered such as accomplishments made by the Freedom Riders. If citizens do not see the importance of their duties in the political community, then political events that change the United States would stop occurring.
However, even if citizenship and social capital is important it seems in contemporary America there is less social capital. The decline of social capital may be a result of lack of government trust and people spending time indoors watching TV than getting involved in their community. Furthermore, the development of passive membership such as AARP whereas you are member but there are not any specific duties for an individual to accomplish to help the association or