Yet the national overdose death rate continues to rise, with opioid deaths in 2022 remaining at an all-time high. These places — labeled “social infrastructure” by the sociologist Eric Klinenberg — are where community members gather to form social bonds. We found that shifts in social infrastructure rival those of other, more well-accepted economic factors, such as wages and unemployment rates. Social infrastructure is often excluded from investments because it is thought to be unimportant. Changing the mandate of government agencies to include investments in social infrastructure is a tall order, but it should be pursued.

Source: Los Angeles Times September 08, 2023 08:03 UTC