Current Living Style In Russia: Leading To Isolation, Fear And Mistrust

Today we live in a world of cities that are grow exponentially with their populations that are from a mixture of different backgrounds. Citizens of different nationalities, religions, social and family statuses, with different educational backgrounds and political views live closer to each other then ever before. Despite the growing density of the city districts people feel even more isolated, lonely and unprotected then in times of smaller population. According to Robert Putnam's study (REF) members of diverse communities tend to avoid collective life, withdraw from their neighbours and build distrust. Without knowing each other people build their fear of those who are different on the stereotypes. Putnam claims that even though people experienced diversity agitate for social reform more, they believe less that their voice matters. Members of diverse communities trying to avoid challenges of interacting with people the fear or don't understand; they “hibernate” and spend more time individually with Tv or laptops. This sense of being alienier to each other takes from us, what Robert Putman nnamed social capital.

Social capital refers to social networks between individuals the charecto of this connections and the trust which arise from this social relationship, shared values. Social capital consists of the stock of active connections among people: the trust, mutual understanding, and shared values and behaviors that bind the members of human networks and communities and make cooperative action possible. Social capital is in some ways self-replicating. By repeatedly creating trust in relationships with particular people, we come to trust all people more and this social trust makes it easier to make still more new ties. It is as if the machine produced its own parts, and at lower prices. This big idea is the key to the magic of social capital is that particular and local acts magnified over time and across individuals can change whole communities and societies. Generalized reciprocity is a community asset but is not the same as gullibility.

Trustworthiness, not simply trust, is the key ingredient. Thick trust embedded in personal relationships of friends and associates that are strong, frequent and nested in wider networks is sometimes called thick trust. Thin trust extends to strangers, like your new acquaintance in a coffee house also rest on the framework of shared social networks and expectations of reciprocity. Thin trust spreads the radius of trust beyond the roster of people we can know personally. Social or generalized trust is a standing decision to give most people, even those whom one does not know from direct experience, the benefit of doubt. It has been found that people who believe others are honest are themselves less likely to lie. All forms of altruism are demonstratively more common in small towns. There appears to be three crucial elements in building trust:

Repeat exposures to others tend to lead to a greater confidence that others can be trusted if: The parties are honest in their communication. The parties follow through on the commitments they make. A typical pathway from low to high trust moves from joint celebrations and eating together to joint activity around a common hobby to doing favors to each other to discussion of community issues to undertaking a joint goal to relationship building one to one. Social capital offers many benefits to communities. Relationships with kin, neighbors and friends are an important safety net, and are crucial to survival when formal safety nets are absent or inadequate. Trust among community members and their ability to work together for the public good can:

1. Reduce problems, such as violence and free-riding, by enforcing shared values and norms of behavior;
2. Increase business opportunities by providing informal access to credit and reducing transaction costs;
3. Improve the quality of education and the accessibility of health services.

The World Bank also says community involvement builds social capital as high levels of participation in choral societies, civic associations, and burial societies help to solve collective problems and generate further social capital in the following ways:

1. Frequent interaction cultivates norms of reciprocity through which actors become more willing to assist one another;
2. Improved coordination and communication facilitate information sharing that increases mutual trust;
3. Successful cooperation encourages future collaborative efforts in new areas.

That civic connections help make us health, wealthy and wise. Living without social capital is not easy. Social Capitals: Allows citizens to resolve collective problems more easily. Grease the wheels that allows communities to advance smoothly. Where people are trusting and trustworthy and where they are subjected to repeated interactions with fellow citizens especially on a day to day basis every day social transactions are less costly. Improves our lot by widening our awareness of the many ways in which our fates are linked. People who have active and trusting connections to others develop or maintain character traits that are good for the rest of society. Joiners become more tolerant, less cynical, and more emphatic in the misfortunes of others. Also operates through psychological and biological processes to improve individual’s lives. Mounting research shows that people whose lives are rich in social capital cope better with trauma and fight illness more efficiently. Social capital seems to be a compliment, not substitute for sleeping pills etc.

In neighborhoods with lots of overlapping connections, individuals more easily learn who can be counted on, and they can better make use of moral suasion to ensure continued attention to problems at hand. doesn't let to build sense of trust and tolerance and in wider glance create a feeling of danger and even increase the criminal rate.