According to Webster's dictionary, a community is, at its most basic, a "a unified body of individuals". As defined, every member of a community is tied to each other in some way or another. What that tie is exactly depends on the type of community examined. Communities are made to serve some sort of purpose, either for themselves or the rest of society.
In order to examine the health of a community, one must analyze it on these facts. The way members of a community treat their fellow community members and how they treat those outside of their community is the main criteria for how well a community is serving its purpose.
If the community examined is residential in nature and large in size, such as a city, region, or country, then one of the criteria for "assaying the health of a society" is how it "deals with the problem of wealth and poverty" (Bellah et al, 285). This, however, would not be the best, or the only, basis to judge such a community. There are questions of how they deal with outsiders, how to punish those who have offended the community rules, and how they deal with the health of their members, among others. Poverty and wealth may be an important part of any residential litmus test, but it does not paint a complete picture.
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I agree with you on this AllieCat... it's certainly a very good indicator, but there are definitely exceptions to the rules ...and not all tests yield accurate results. I think the one reason why it can be a very good indicator, though, is that we as a society, country, world, look at wealth in a very matter of fact way: you got money, you're good to go... if you don't have it, you better get it soon in order to actually "have a good life".
ReplyDeleteWe place so much emphasis on money...it's our nature.
Something really interesting to look at would be whether the US is considered a healthy community right now, admist the economic crisis that has left 1000s of people jobless and everyone uncertain of whether they will have a job tomorrow.
This is a case in which wealth is perhaps not an indicator for health.... the US is one of the wealthiest countries in the world...yet noone within the United States is really doing that well .... sad times.