Bowling Alone
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community is a 2000 nonfiction book by Robert D. Putnam. It was developed from his 1995 essay entitled "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital". Putnam surveys the decline of social capital in the United States since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives. He argues that this undermines the active civil engagement, which a strong democracy requires from its citizens.
Contents
Putnam discusses ways in which Americans have disengaged from political involvement including decreased voter turnout, public meeting attendance, serving on committees, and working with political parties. Putnam also cites Americans' growing distrust in their government. Putnam accepts the possibility that this lack of trust could be attributed to "the long litany of political tragedies and scandals since the 1960s", but believes that this explanation is limited when viewing it alongside other "trends in civic engagement of a wider sort".
Putnam notes the aggregate loss in membership and number of volunteers in many existing civic organizations such as religious groups (Knights of Columbus, B'nai Brith, etc.), labor unions, parent–teacher associations, Federation of Women's Clubs, League of Women Voters, military veterans' organizations, volunteers with Boy Scouts and the Red Cross, and fraternal organizations (Lions Clubs, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, United States Junior Chamber, Freemasonry, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.). Putnam uses bowling as an example to illustrate this. Although the number of people who bowl has increased in the last 20 years, the number of people who bowl in leagues has decreased. If people bowl alone, they do not participate in social interaction and civic discussions that might occur in a league environment.
Putnam cites data from the General Social Survey that shows an aggregate decline in membership of traditional civic organizations, supporting his thesis that U.S. social capital has declined. He noted that some organizations have grown, such as the American Association of Retired People, the Sierra Club and a plethora of mass-member activist groups. But he says that these groups do not tend to foster face-to-face interaction, and are the type where "the only act of membership consists in writing a check for dues or perhaps occasionally reading a newsletter." He also draws a distinction between two different types of social capital: a "bonding" type (which occurs within a demographic group) and a "bridging" type (which unites people from different groups).
He then asks the obvious question "Why is US social capital eroding?" and discusses several possible causes. He does not believe that the "movement of women into the workforce" and other demographic changes have had much impact on the number of individuals engaging in civic associations. He also discusses the "re-potting hypothesis", that people become less engaged when they frequently move towns, but finds that Americans move towns less frequently than in previous decades. He does suggest that suburbanization, economics and time pressures had some effect, though he notes that average working hours have shortened. He concludes the main cause is technology "individualizing" people's leisure time via television and the Internet, suspecting that "virtual reality helmets" will carry this further in future.
He estimates that the fall-off in civic engagement after 1965 is 10% due to pressure of work and double-career families, 10% to suburbanisation and commuting, 25% to the individualisation of media (television) and 50% to ‘generational change’. 5% remains unexplained.
Putnam suggests closer studies of which forms of associations can create the greatest social capital, how various aspects of technology, changes in social equality, and public policy affect social capital. He closes by emphasizing the importance of discovering how the United States could reverse the trend of social capital decay.
Linking in as of 2023
2000s in sociology, Accident-proneness, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Anti-politics, Automotive industry in the United States, Better Together: Restoring the American Community, Bogardus social distance scale, Bowling, Civic engagement, Civic intelligence, Cocooning (behaviour), Communications in the United States, Communitarianism, Community building, Community organizing, DDB Needham Life Style Surveys, Digital media use and mental health, Effects of economic inequality, History of the United States (1964–1980), Internet culture, Internet influences on communities, Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, L. J. Hanifan, List of political scientists, Meetup, Nan Lin, Radio Act of 1912, Radio Act of 1927, Radio in the United States, Robert D. Putnam, Saul Alinsky, Scott Heiferman, Social aspects of television, Social capital, Social engagement, Social insurance, Society of the United States, Television in the United States, Ten-pin bowling, Third place, Transaction Man
See also
