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Conversation
After centuries of strategies that separated its people (especially by race, class, and gender) and several decades of fierce political ‘othering’ and civic unraveling, there is a pressing need to reweave the social fabric of America. The present epidemic of loneliness or decade of despair can be traced back to a crisis of connection and widespread erosion of care and trust. Causes can be found in the rise of algorithmic social media, parasocial relationships, consumerism and overwork (i.e., reduction in leisure time); as well as the decline of once-vibrant social, religion, and civic institutions.
All this is contributing to declining life expectancy and mental health, more deaths of despair (e.g., suicide, addiction, violence), persistent social and racial tensions. It produces political gridlock that makes it impossible to compassionately and collectively address these challenges. That said, our worn-through social fabric cannot be fixed by merely shuttling through new laws, policies, or market-based responses. Rather, we must reinvigorate culture and reweave social bonds. Join to explore practices for social weaving, recovery of neighborliness, and community care locally. We will also pay attention to how we might resist the dominant culture's tendency to unravel our bonds. Finally, we can consider how social weaving might scale out to pull a nation back from the brink.
Recommended resources for this EcoGathering: