Across the 35 countries in this survey, social trust and civic
engagement are
strongly correlated; the
greater the density of associational membership in a society, the more
trusting
its citizens. Trust and engagement
are two facets of the same underlying factor--social capital.[End Page
73]
America still ranks relatively high by cross-national standards on
both these
dimensions of social capital.
Even in the 1990s, after several decades' erosion, Americans are more
trusting
and more engaged than people in most
other countries of the world.
The trends of the past quarter-century, however, have apparently moved
the
United States significantly lower
in the international rankings of social capital. The recent deterioration
in
American social capital has been
sufficiently great that (if no other country changed its position in the
meantime) another quarter-century of change
at the same rate would bring the United States, roughly speaking, to the
midpoint
among all these countries, roughly
equivalent to South Korea, Belgium, or Estonia today. Two generations'
decline at
the same rate would leave the
United States at the level of today's Chile, Portugal, and Slovenia.
nailmallpro on 03 Apr 19When it comes to keeping your family safe from harm, you want to do everything in your power. Dealing with electricity can be a dangerous thing if you don't do it correctly. Teaching your family how to properly approach electrical problems can make a world of difference in their safety. Here are our top 10 electrical safety tips to help keep your family safe from harm. 1.) Avoid Overloading An Electrical Outlet And Power Strips Being in the technology age, it can sometimes be difficult to charge all of our mobile items. From your phone to your iPod, to your computer, you need to have a clear outlet space to do so. Many think the best solution is to simply add more temporary outlets to their existing hardwired outlets. This can be done with power strips and multi-outlet plugins. While these may seem convenient at first, they actually can cause major electrical problems. Overloading outlets can cause burnt plugs, and in more severe cases, full-on house fires. You should avoid using multi-outlet plugins as much as possible to reduce your family's risk of danger. 2.) Don't Yank On Electrical Cords It may seem tempting from time to time to pull on a power cord to get it out of the wall. Just because it saves you that short trip back down the hallway to unplug the sweeper, it's actually costing you more in the long run because of the wear it takes. Realize that by yanking power cords, you can damage the cord, the plug, and the actual wall outlet. In the event that your wall outlet has become loose due to being yanked on, we suggest calling a qualified electrician to fix the issue. 3.) Avoid Keeping Power Cords Near Water If you've ever noticed that the outlets in your kitchen and bathroom are shaped differently than the rest, you've seen a GFCI outlet. These are specially made to help decrease the likelihood of electrical shock in the event that water seeps into the outlet. You can do yourself a favor and protect you and your family from electrical shock b
