I think a way to think of this is to think of many overlapping communities that you are part of, at many scales. Like, you are part of the global community, plus at least one regional community (states, bioregion, city), plus your local community (suburb, town), plus your local subculture(s), plus your broader family (maybe 2 or 3 of those), plus your immediate family or household, plus yourself, alone.
You don’t ever exist in only one of those, you always exist in all of them simultaneously (whether you like it or not). And you play a constant balancing act of responsibility to, contribution to, and benefiting from each of them. The way you weight the importance of each is somewhat up to you, and somewhat socially determined, but it can change a lot over time.
I think a way to think of this is to think of many overlapping communities that you are part of, at many scales. Like, you are part of the global community, plus at least one regional community (states, bioregion, city), plus your local community (suburb, town), plus your local subculture(s), plus your broader family (maybe 2 or 3 of those), plus your immediate family or household, plus yourself, alone.
You don’t ever exist in only one of those, you always exist in all of them simultaneously (whether you like it or not). And you play a constant balancing act of responsibility to, contribution to, and benefiting from each of them. The way you weight the importance of each is somewhat up to you, and somewhat socially determined, but it can change a lot over time.