COMMUNITY, ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL CAPITAL

Membership of political parties is way down, church attendance has collapsed, local pubs have shut, Britain's High Streets have been monopolised, more old people are living in loneliness, the distance from home kids are allowed to play has diminished to zero, and the vast majority of social capital (both within and between socio-economic groups) indicators are on a precipitous downward trend. Considering that the aim of economics is to facilitate human ends, what should economists and the government aim to do to reverse the collapse of British civil society and our communities? Why are these types of issues, rather than the more dismal parts of the dismal science, not something that political parties seem keen to engage with as a political and electoral priority?