Church Participation Case Study

In addition to the political discussions that exist within social networks, another specific determinant of social capital is church membership. It has been long discussed that church participation facilitates civic activity. As a matter of fact, research consistently shows that Americans who attend church regularly are more likely to take part in civic and voluntary acts (Schwadel, Cheadle and Malone). The survey was administered to attendees of two Midwest evangelical Protestant churches. One is described as a medium-sized and the other is relatively large. Members of the churches who are age 18 and older were encouraged to fill the survey out. It was estimated that one church had 55% of their age-appropriate attendees completed the survey …show more content…
However, in order to solidify that theory, one must also look at the cases where a decline in social capital leads to a reduction of political participation. This theme features the findings of Putnam, who maintains that there is a nationwide decline in social capital and civic participation. In addition, this theme also focuses its attention to the drop of social capital and political involvement after the newspapers in Denver and Seattle were closed. It also sheds the light on the reality that America has lost some of its associational values presently. These realities serve as a warning sign that in order for a democracy to run successfully, the presence of associations must