Our Cultural Crisis V: The Amish Don't Have Insurance

Since the 1970s, America’s sense of community, measured in “social capital,” has steadily declined, resulting in what sociologists sometimes call “the atomized self.” We are more disconnected from one other now than we were in the past, which directly impacts how we go about getting our need for recognition and dignity met. And with two very different understandings of what dignity is (recognition of sameness versus recognition of differences), we are often thrown into conflict with one another, which is part of our cultural crisis. This must be named if it is to be transcended.