I am European and I moved to California some months ago. I find it both amusing and mysterious that people here in the U.S. talk about "community" so much. I really don't get it.
This can manifest in small ways. I have a small little driveway and a lot of sidewalk. My neighbors will often snowblow my sidewalk for me after a storm, which I appreciate. (I am legally obligated to clear the sidewalk, my driveway I can do at my leisure.) They get cookies and kudos. Another neighbor just came over and helped me trim my apple tree. They will get some apples and we'll make some applesauce for them next fall. When my pets get out, people know where to return them. We've gotten rides from our neighbors when our car was suddenly undrivable, and an we once performed an emergency babysitting. We've cared for pets while their owners were away on short notice.
When the assholes across the street moved, nobody cared, because they contributed nothing to our little local cul-de-sac but loud, vaguely dangerous children that ran around a lot. (Others have children that run around a lot, but without the menace.) There's another asshole who moved in more recently who has done nothing but make withdrawals on their social capital, and now nobody wants to talk to them since they never reciprocate and every conversation seems to wander into something they need. (If they don't need anything, they will simply ignore you if you say hello.)
None of these things are major, but it is often the little things that help. More extremely, you just never know when a job or something will pop up. It's less targeted than networking at a user group, but it can happen.
Bear in mind as I say this that I am fairly asocial. My wife ends up doing a lot of this quite naturally. But I at least support her in it. Also, my kid is only seven months old; I'm sure as he reaches school age my involvement will be even more interesting to talk about. We deliberately moved into an area with a lot of community activities for children and parents.
Oh... and this is the dreaded "suburbs", where I have found a better, more cohesive community than any city location I've ever lived in. But, not only "may" your mileage vary, your mileage will vary.
(Geography matters more than I realized. We chose a house in a "court", which is a little stubby road that has ten-ish houses on it that all face each other. I think that natural geographic division helps a lot. I bet the rows of houses on the main road have a much more diffuse community because there are no natural boundaries. In this aspect, perhaps my little chunk of suburbia is more village-like than some others.)
Their neighbors have a key to their home, during winter they perform "church service" by clearing the snow off the sidewalks and when I go to visit I'm surprised to find out that the neighbors know who I am and where I'm from.
This is not just a single household in Germany. I've stayed with many of my family members in different parts of Southern Germany and I find it to be similar.
This, contrasts highly with South Africa where the idea of community does not exist. This in part is because of the high rate of crime and the 8-foot, spiked and electrified, walls that people have placed around their homes.
If I was given the choice I would prefer having a community than not.
There are over 500 people in Europe. Only 80 million of those are from Germany. Neither is Germany a good representative of Europe, nor are most Germans exactly role models. Your over-generalization would be offending to many people. Since my skin is too thick, I found it amusing instead.
I don't doubt that there are advantages in being part of the community. I understand it's part of the American culture. Though I try to fit in and be a good guest in this beautiful "land of the free", this "be part of your community" thing borders "psychological coercion" on my book.
And, you are the one who generalised yourself as been "European." If you didn't want to be placed in to the common pot of the 47 other countries in Europe then perhaps you should have specified your own country?
Germany has the 2nd highest population of 82 million and is a country of which I am a citizen. That makes me a European, and a member of the EU. Does this mean my own experience and own opinion are less valid than yours because you're from a different country?
My skin is not as thick. But this is probably because you've offended me directly.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805 to 1859) said in Democracy in America that was one of the characteristics of Americans, to self-organize to help their communities. It still is. This results partly from European persons who had this tendency immigrating to America while other Europeans stayed in Europe.
However, your argument that people who had this tendency came to America and the other stayed in Europe does sound sketchy. I am an engineer, not an historian, but if I remember right, the ones who came to America were the starved, and the persecuted. If you were an aristocrat in England or the Netherlands in the 16th, 17th or 18th century, why would you bother to risk your pleasant life of luxury and debauchery to cross the Atlantic in a fragile vessel?
Civic volunteerism is an old American virtue. It will probably be gone in 50 years, for better or worse.
I think good will and volunteerism should not be expected of anyone. If good will and volunteerism become a norm, something one is expected to do, then "true good will" and "true volunteerism" (the ones which stem from one's heart, not from any social norms) lose their value.
Helping a sick neighbor hopefully helps to keep them from dying, which helps keep their house off the market, which helps to preserve your ability to sell -- nobody wants to buy on a street everybody's selling on.
Keeping the neighborhood clean preserves your property values, which is easier to see.
Looking out for your neighbors, or at least giving them the impression you are, means it's more likely they'll look out for you, which means they're more likely to investigate or call the cops when they see a prowler outside your home.
I have no problem with helping others, but I have a problem with being "pressured" to help others who may not be worthy of my time. If I am going to be forced to "help my community", the least I can do is profit from that.