Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

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Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 2,079 ratings · 266 reviews

Drawing on vast new data that reveal Americans’ changing behavior, Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from one another and how social structures—whether they be PTA, church, or political parties—have disintegrated. Until the publication of this groundbreaking work, no one had so deftly diagnosed the harm that these broken bonds have wreaked on our ph...more

Paperback, 544 pages

Published July 31st 2001 by Simon & Schuster (first published 2000)

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Apr 01, 2008 angela rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: school, politics

Despite it's "Best Seller" status - this book left a lot to be desired. Like anyone else who knows a thing or two about political participation and social capital, this book rings hollow and insincere at certain points.

Briefly, Putnam rests far too much of his argument on the decline of traditional, conventional "community organizations" of a previous era (like The Lion's Club, the Elks or the Masons). He pays scant attention to how divisive, racist, sexist, and homophobic many of these organiza...more Despite it's "Best Seller" status - this book left a lot to be desired. Like anyone else who knows a thing or two about political participation and social capital, this book rings hollow and insincere at certain points.

Briefly, Putnam rests far too much of his argument on the decline of traditional, conventional "community organizations" of a previous era (like The Lion's Club, the Elks or the Masons). He pays scant attention to how divisive, racist, sexist, and homophobic many of these organizations were and how they all demanded a degree of conformity. Furthermore, he manages to write off the importance of both social movements and support-based groups in a single, short chapter without acknowledging the way that social movements allow new flexible forms of participation or how support-based groups may allow a greater degree of "bonding" and "bridging" social capital. If you take an AA meeting or a meeting for single parents, of course the people in these groups have a single thing in common but they are just as likely to have many things not in common, such as the neighbourhood they live in, the type of job they have, and racial background.

Further to this, his means of measurement are simply not adequate. Using the GSS to track club involvement is disingenuous, for example, because they ask "Were you a member of this type of club?" The answer is yes or no, and does not allow individuals to count the multiple kinds of clubs they belong to of a single kind (such as belonging to two environmental clubs).

There is certainly something going in American - CONVENTIONAL forms of political participation and civic participation are declining, but there are many emerging forms of participation which Putnam writes off or ignores altogether. He acknowledges that we need to find new ways to participate that that fit our current era as the old kinds of community organization may not work, but at the same time he ignores, writes off, or undervalues the ways in which people are already participating in new and innovative ways - such as support groups, continuing social movements, community festivals, pick-up sports leagues, short-lived issue based groups, more flexible forms of political participation, and the multiple kinds of participation that are made possible by the internet and related forms of technology.

Still, there is a great deal of valuable information in this book and a number of keen insights but Putnam's needs to open his mind up to new, innovative, and unconventional forms of participation and networks in order to make a more convincing argument.(less)

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Apr 10, 2008 Abby rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone interested in sociology, politics, urbanism and social relationships

Shelves: favorites

I'm not sure I could give full justice to this book in a hastily written review, so I'm not going to try. Robert Putnam's seminal treatise on social capital is jam-packed with statistics and information to back up his claims that social capital has been on a serious decline since the 1960s, much to the detriment of American society. He delineates a difference between two types of social capital--bonding (strong ties to a small inner circle of people, like family) and bridging (weak ties to a div...more

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Nov 02, 2007 Leonard rated it 4 of 5 stars

God this book is painstaking. (Read: painful.) It's good, it's thorough, and I read all five hundred pages or whatever. But the writing style induces anguish. It's so full of qualifications like: "But this correlation doesn't imply causality" or "Even when we hold race, class, gender, education, and imcome constant..."

I'll save you hours of your life and give you the summary: Throughout the twentieth century, more and more Americans were participating in clubs, having dinner parties, going to ch...more

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Sep 30, 2007 Tasha rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: any of my co-workers and friends willing to read a dense, scholarly text

In Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam argues that America's social capital has declined precipitously since the 1960’s. He uses massive amounts of data to back up his argument – so much so that the book surpasses 400 pages of small print, and that’s not including the 100 or so pages of appendices. Putnam makes his point unequivocally, and manages to not bore the reader with the abundance of historical and quantitative evidence he presents. Maybe this is because the topic is inherently interested (at...more

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Jan 11, 2008 Christine Giraud rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

This is a book I heard about in 2000 when it first came out and I've wanted to read t since then. What took me so long?

It's an important treatise on how we have become increasingly disconnected with each other for various reasons: tv, moving a lot, lack of civic education, suburbanization and sprawl, longer work hours, both parents working, declining religious participation, greater individualism, etc. Author Robert Putnam contends that we are losing our social capital which basically means our...more This is a book I heard about in 2000 when it first came out and I've wanted to read t since then. What took me so long?

It's an important treatise on how we have become increasingly disconnected with each other for various reasons: tv, moving a lot, lack of civic education, suburbanization and sprawl, longer work hours, both parents working, declining religious participation, greater individualism, etc. Author Robert Putnam contends that we are losing our social capital which basically means our social resources (friends, colleagues, family, neighbors, etc). This leads to depression, distrust,

He attributes about half of the overall decline in social capital to the generational difference between WWII generation and the baby boomers. The civic engagement and connectedness on the WWIIers seems to me to be a result of being in a very different historical situation, not a quality that is inherent to them. So I'm not with him on that.

Anyway, he isn't encouraging a return to the 1950's where conformity often lead to malevolent practices like segregation. However, our increasing individualism has made social ties more difficult to make and retain. People used to join more clubs and have dinner over each other's houses, play cards, etc more often. The tv and it's characters are our new friends.

This book is outdated. Putnam admits he has no idea how the Internet will effect social capital. The decline happened before the Internet came out to the general public so it can't be THE cause. He does make the good point that virtual communication is not the same as face to face. One can not make a thorough assessment of the communication received electronically as we can from "vibes" we get when we're in another's presence. Virtual ties help us communicate more easily but he's not sure it fosters "genuine community". I think it depends on the site and individual interactions. I recently heard about these new twitter mini blogs that people use for quick conversations with their different communities everywhere they go. In one case, a woman confessed that she had just found out she had cancer. The response from her twitter community was immediate and very supportive. So, who knows.

I think the lack of social capital is widely acknowledged in the US, if not overtly. Efforts to bring people together such as stich n'bitch, book groups, meet up groups are lauded as healthy for society. But it is true that these activities seem to be less than in the past. (less)

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Jul 06, 2007 stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, poli-sci

read for my social democracy seminar.

it seems really logical now, but when the book was written in 1995, and it was really, really revolutionary. his main thesis is that americans are not volunteering in the same ways in before - we are not joining community organizations anymore. young people are still volunteering, but mostly individually. (his title comes from the fact that people don't join bowling leagues anymore.)

i would recommend reading the first half, skimming the statistics, and read...more

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Feb 28, 2009 Shane Jaynes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Putnam does a supurb job, through extensive and detailed demographic research, of isolating a compelling social problem -- declining social and civic participation. He describes this trend in interesting ways. For instance he argues that the increasing demand for and subsequent supply of lawyers in contemporary US society represents the handicapping erosion of trust and good faith among fellow citizens. This was an "a-ha" for me, an interpretation about a well-known phenomenon (who hasn't seen t...more

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Dec 10, 2008 Nelson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Putnam, sociologist, describes Social Capital (i.e., Social engagement/ connectivity/interaction) and its decline in America since the 1960’s. Along w/ this decline in our society’s connectivity comes increased mistrust and disengagement…. …and crime. W/ High social capital a society functions for the good of all and its economy and health increase…. And lower crime. There are two types of social capital: Bonding Social Capital (ie, bonding of like people’…”birds of a feather”), and Bridging Soc...more

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May 13, 2013 Erika RS rated it 5 of 5 stars

Social capital is the grease that keeps society moving, but over the past 30 years it has decreased. Bowling Alone is the influential book that gathered the data behind this trend and put social capital on the radar of the nation.

Social networks give rise to generalized reciprocity and trust. This is social capital. Reciprocity and trust are most useful when applied generally and not just those who have helped you in the past. Social capital allows society operate smoothly. People rely on social...more Social capital is the grease that keeps society moving, but over the past 30 years it has decreased. Bowling Alone is the influential book that gathered the data behind this trend and put social capital on the radar of the nation.

Social networks give rise to generalized reciprocity and trust. This is social capital. Reciprocity and trust are most useful when applied generally and not just those who have helped you in the past. Social capital allows society operate smoothly. People rely on social connections for friendships, romantic relationships, job referrals, and community and political organization. Social capital is correlated with individual happiness and with community goods such as lower crime rates.

For all the good that it causes, social capital is, like most tools, not unambiguously good. Gangs and the KKK are held together by social capital just as the PTA and Habitat volunteers are. Being gay in a close knit conservative Christian community can ruin lives. The rarely realized ideal is a society with large amounts of social capital and a large tolerance for difference, but the tensions between these tendencies are hard to reconcile.

Bowling Alone analyzes empirical data to show that social capital had been declining for 30 years (the book is copyright 2000, data from earlier). Putnam considers political participation, civic participation, religious participation, workplace connections, altruism, volunteering, and philanthropy, and perceptions of reciprocity, honesty, and trust. All measures have shown declines, from mild to dramatic. Some new trends seem to defy the decline (e.g., internet communities), but Putnam makes a compelling case that social capital is generally declining.

Consider volunteering as an example. In the US, we volunteer about twice as much as in other developed nations. Volunteering may be formal (through an organization such as United Way) or informal (house sitting for a neighbor). Over half of Americans volunteer when informal volunteering is counted. Volunteering is correlated with higher levels of philanthropic giving.

Education predicts volunteer activity; college graduates are twice as likely to volunteer. Parents volunteer the most because of their involvement with activities related to their children (e.g., school, sports teams). Community size, wealth, and family status are other predictors of volunteer activity. Americans who entertain at home are also more likely to volunteer than those who do not.

Community involvement is the most important predictor of volunteer activity. Data from 1996 shows that 73% of members of secular organizations and 55% of members of religious organizations volunteer. Only 19% of individuals not involved in organizations volunteer. Members of religious organizations tend to volunteer mostly for their church. Organizations provide volunteer opportunities for their members and act as recruitment pools.

Over the past 30 years, volunteer activity has not dropped across the board. Formal volunteering has decreased, but informal volunteering is more common. More people outside of organizations are volunteering, but they do not form long term relationships. There is a troubling generational decline with respect to volunteer activity. The "long civic generation", the generation before the Boomers, has volunteered more at every stage of life than the Boomers and Generation X is worse (although there have been indications that the Millenials may be reversing this slightly).

What is behind the declines in volunteering and other types of participation? Given the difficulty of analyzing social trends, Putnam's explanations are guesses. Up to 10% of the decline in these measures can be attributed to time and money pressures on families, up to another 10% can be explained by suburban sprawl and long commutes, and another 25% can be explained by electronic media, especially television. By far, the largest contributor generational succession. The Boomers and Generation X replace the long civic generation in numbers, but their percentage participation is comparatively abysmal. This may explain up to half of the decline in participation. Why this is occurring is an open question.

Overall, Bowling Alone was a fascinating and informative book. The quantitative information makes it a valid and credible resource. The publication of Bowling Alone prompted debate over the conclusions Putnam drew, but makes it clear that there are trends to consider, and whether they are considered good, bad, or neutral, they are worth examining.(less)

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Mar 06, 2012 Orrin Woodward rated it 5 of 5 stars

Robert Putnam's books was several books in one.

The first section (about the first 4 chapters) drew me in with a synopsis of the decline of community in America.

The second section, through chapter 15, nearly put me to sleep. :) Thankfully, however, I kept reading because from chapter 16 until the end of the book was so good, that I give it 5 stars despite the slogging in the middle. Putnam's five keys for social capital was worth the entire book. Here is my takeaways:

Putnam list five specific a...more Robert Putnam's books was several books in one.

The first section (about the first 4 chapters) drew me in with a synopsis of the decline of community in America.

The second section, through chapter 15, nearly put me to sleep. :) Thankfully, however, I kept reading because from chapter 16 until the end of the book was so good, that I give it 5 stars despite the slogging in the middle. Putnam's five keys for social capital was worth the entire book. Here is my takeaways:

Putnam list five specific areas where the trust and understanding inured by social capital helps translate aspirations into realities:

1. Social capital allows citizens to resolve collective problems more easily through improved teamwork.
2. Social capital greases the wheels that allow communities to advance smoothly through improved trust.
3. Social capital helps widen the awareness of fellow citizens that their fates are intertwined through improved understanding.
4. Social capital serves as conduits for the flow of helpful information and resources to accomplish community and individual goals.
5. Social capital improves individual lives through psychological and biological processes. In fact, numerous studies suggest lives that are rich in social capital cope with trauma and illnesses significantly more effectively.

Despite social capital’s overwhelming advantages, Putnam acknowledges its decline, writing, “Americans have had a growing sense at some visceral level of disintegrating social bonds.” Furthermore, he writes, “More than 80% of Americans said there should be more emphasis on community, even if it puts more demands on individuals.” In sum, social capital isn’t just the fuel for Social Power – a necessary check on State Power – but it also enhances individual lives through the sense of belonging engendered within communities. Strikingly, then, the decline of social capital, not only attacks society’s freedoms, but also attacks an individual’s well-being. Simply put, America cannot remain free without a revival of Social Power through building social capital in voluntary communities. With so much at stake, why aren’t more people focused on restoring voluntary communities throughout America and the West? (less)

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Aug 11, 2011 Aleeda added it · review of another edition

For all the benefits of technology, it has changed how we interact with each other in a harmful way. Robert Putnam, a Harvard professor, examines this phenomenon in Bowling Alone. Americans' proclivity to join clubs that benefit the community plummeted with the coming of the internet age. Where we used to enjoy movies together in the theater, we now stay at home; where we used to bowl in leagues, which have disappeared. Even on the street, where we could once make eye contact or say a simple hel...more

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Mar 03, 2010 Benjamin rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am currently in a situation where I have very little social capital nearby. It's been difficult living with this deficit, but in a way I feel my situation had a purpose - to highlight the importance of community and social networks. That's why I picked up this book after I heard about it (maybe on an NPR interview? I need to start recording where I get book ideas because that is a part of the story).

This is a lengthy book but for the most part stays readable and isn't a stuffy academic read....more

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Apr 26, 2009 Richard Hansen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: essay, non-fiction, warning-cautionary-tale

I rather enjoyed this book as a (thorough) explanation of where community has gone in the past few decades and why. Particularly telling for me was the quoting of increased suicide rates and feelings of "malaise" over the past generation or two.

While Putnam makes the point that the '50s were more socially connected (they were), I don't think he romanticizes the decade by any stretch of the imagination. He mentions the increased tolerance for race, sex and sexual orientation today, but bemoans th...more

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Jan 10, 2012 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars

http://thisweekatthelibrary.blogspot....

Every so often I read a book that strikes my brain as lightening, forever altering my thinking and earning a permanent place both on my bedside bookcase and on the tip of my tongue, for I will be thinking, talking, and writing about it from that point on. Bowling Alone is such a book. In it, Robert Putnam makes the case that America has experienced over a half-century of social decline -- decline that is universal, across all demographics and throughout th...more http://thisweekatthelibrary.blogspot....

Every so often I read a book that strikes my brain as lightening, forever altering my thinking and earning a permanent place both on my bedside bookcase and on the tip of my tongue, for I will be thinking, talking, and writing about it from that point on. Bowling Alone is such a book. In it, Robert Putnam makes the case that America has experienced over a half-century of social decline -- decline that is universal, across all demographics and throughout the nation. He uses a concept called social capital, a representation of the strength of social ties between individuals and their networks; the more social capital a society has, the more cohesive it is and the better it functions as a human community in matters of health, safety, and problem solving.

He first charts a steady decline in social capital by using falling rates in civic organizations (like the Rotary Club), locally-organized political activity, religious participation, communal leisure activities, and other markers. Putnam then attempts to ascertain the causes of this steep decline, which seems inexplicable given that the baby boomer generation has reached the age where civic participation is at its greatest. He finds a variety of society-wide forces (increasing job and security pressure; suburbanization; the rise of television), but also notes a major generational influence. The most active civic generation in American history is dying off, but much of their strength comes (Putnam believes) from the unifying force of WWII. That war called upon the resources of the entire nation -- women in the workforce and children gathering scrap metal were just as important as the soldiers in the field. People didn't simply work together; they believed they were working together, and for a common goal. Putnam believes that this extended period of national solidarity cast a shadow over that generation's lives -- but the baby boomers and generation-Xers have had no such struggle. No one would think of the Vietnam War as bringing people together; indeed, it must stand out as one of the most divisive wars in American history.

In making his argument, Putnam is both exhaustive and conservative -- anticipating objections to his conclusions and answering them as a matter of course. He's also not quick to overestimate the influence of any one factor, when sometimes I thought such emphasis might be appropriate. Putnam then asks the question, "So what?" and examines the ways in which social capital is a boon to society and then the consequences of losing it. He then ends by offering several goals for American society to work forward to as a way of strengthening itself. My interest in this book stems from my interest in the 'human habitat' in general, and community is an essential part of that.

Bowling Alone is imminently worthy of consideration -- not just for the ideas it contains, but for the thorough manner that Putnam presents them. A small caveat; the book may be marginally dated given the rise of social networking sites. While Putnam does address online communities, facebook and similar creatures are altogether different from usenet groups and static websites -- and although they're scarcely a replacement for what we've lost, certainly they're a factor that would need to be considered if this book were published today. For my own part, I am resolutely committed to doing my part to live my life in connection with other people.(less)

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Jan 16, 2012 Craig Werner rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: political-economy

Despite its useful elements, Bowling Alone reminds me why I spend very little time reading sociology. Putnam offers a clear and reasonably compelling argument that civic involvement (in numerous forms--political, religious, social in both formal and informal manifestations) has declined steadily since the middle 1960s. He advances a notion of "social capital"--a measurement of the resources available to individuals in communities distinct from financial capital and human capital.

He has some use...more Despite its useful elements, Bowling Alone reminds me why I spend very little time reading sociology. Putnam offers a clear and reasonably compelling argument that civic involvement (in numerous forms--political, religious, social in both formal and informal manifestations) has declined steadily since the middle 1960s. He advances a notion of "social capital"--a measurement of the resources available to individuals in communities distinct from financial capital and human capital.

He has some useful insights into some of the causes, the most important of which are: 1) the emergence of television, which draws people into individual circumstances, and reducing the number of situations in which there's critical mass for group activities; 2) the change from the generation formed by World War II, which emerged with a strong commitment to civic involvement. Putnam's reasonably careful to avoid lamentation as a rhetorical mode, and he provides copious evidence to support his assertions.

Having said that, I'm really really glad I'm done with the book and don't have to read anymore of it tomorrow. His method typifies academic sociology at its most mind-numbing. Lots and lots of graphs which say more or less the same thing. (Yes, I understand why we want real evidence). That's just dull. More problematic is the way that he parrots the sociological claim that it's possible to normalize the statistics--holding numerous variables equal in order to isolate a single variable. I'm more than slightly dubious that he's done anything of the kind. While I agree in my non (social) scientific way with his argument, I'm absolutely unconvinced that one can separate human, financial and social capital as cleanly as he claims to have done.

My final grousing is that the final segment of the book in which he looks back to the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era as analogs for the contemporary problems left me absolutely cold. I'd skip it.

A final observation--one he couldn't do anything about since the book was published in 2000--is that it would be interesting to see how the explosion of the internet and various other communications technologies has effected the patterns he identifies. Everyone reading this is probably aware that I'm a card-carrying technophobe (not quite a luddite or you wouldn't be reading this here), but I'm also aware that there are real possibilities for connecting via the net, etc. I'll check in on Putnam's website to see what he has to say about the view from 2012.

The above review is probably a bit harsh. I did learn from Bowling Alone and I'll be using bits of it in a class this semester. But, as stated previously, I'm glad that I've finished it.(less)

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Jan 10, 2011 Drick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: community-work

I have known of this book and referred to it for many years but this is the first time I have read it. In this book sociologist Robert Putnam chronicles the decline of social capital in the United States over the last century and offers suggestions on ways we can re-develop that lost social capital. Social capital is social connectedness, and the active involvement in civic affairs, whether it be in leading a Cub Scout Group, joining a service club, participating in a political campaign, or work...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

The bottom line: TV watching is reducing the amount of time Americans spend doing anything else with their leisure time, particularly those things that put them in direct contact or cooperation with other Americans. The levels at which we vote, join clubs, trust each other, host dinner parties... All are reduced dramatically by TV viewing, along with women entering the workforce, the replacement of Baby Boomers' parents with successive generations, and other causes.

Putnam bats around the idea t...more

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Dec 10, 2011 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

The idea/complaint/gut feeling that motivated this book is one that probably resonates with most Americans today: we're too disconnected from each other, too disengaged from our communities, too uninvolved in politics, too apathetic about helping other people, and too passive and solitary in our choice of hobbies and leisure activities.

Frankly, this book could have marshalled a lot less evidence, been a lot shorter, and used much less fancy sociological analysis, and I still would have bought in...more The idea/complaint/gut feeling that motivated this book is one that probably resonates with most Americans today: we're too disconnected from each other, too disengaged from our communities, too uninvolved in politics, too apathetic about helping other people, and too passive and solitary in our choice of hobbies and leisure activities.

Frankly, this book could have marshalled a lot less evidence, been a lot shorter, and used much less fancy sociological analysis, and I still would have bought into the underlying premise, because it just feels so true to me. I think anyone who remembers or at least has heard how things used to be in America, or how things still are in other countries, can share this feeling of there being an emptiness and hollowness to how most Americans spend their time, and a sense that there is a better way to live that isn't quite so lazy and self-centered. So Putnam certainly gets points on tapping into the zeitgeist and articulating something that's important to a lot of people.

This book's main flaw is that Putnam took a very compelling idea and made it drier and more academic than he needed to. The numerous charts and graphs were illuminating, but got a little overwhelming as I got further in the book, and the same applies to his overuse of statistics, percentages, etc. to make his points. A good 1/5 of the book is devoted to appendices and detailed data sets (and I did appreciate him putting all of that stuff outside the main body of the text), but even so, I think even more of his stats could have been shelved in the appendices. His overall argument could have been more concise and compact.

I thought it was good that he had a chapter devoted to the "dark side" of greater community involvement, socializing, association membership, and so on, because if it weren't for that I would accuse him of falling prey to misplaced nostalgia brought on by old age. After all, if you follow his argument logically (and the implicit value judgments within it), more people joining bigoted, intolerant groups like the Ku Klux Klan would be seen as a positive growth in our "social capital" -- the term he uses for our level of social/community ties. The section discussing how the decrease in club-joining and community involvement was happening at the same time as an increase in tolerance in American society (as measured in surveys asking about mixed race marriage, freedom of speech, non-religious people, women in the workplace, etc.) was very interesting and provocative.

I assume the chapter on technology is the most controversial -- he attributes about 25% of our general cultural malaise to the increased use of television and computer-based entertainment, and despite a few funny antiquated terms (like referring to people who surf the internet as "cybernauts" -- the book was written in 1999, after all), his arguments felt spot-on to me. In particular, he compared people who watch TV intentionally (i.e., they only turn on the TV when they have a specific show in mind, and turn it off when that show is over) vs. people who watch TV habitually (just turn it on and leave it on as background noise). He found that people from the pre-Baby Boomer era were much more likely to watch TV intentionally, whereas everyone afterwards was more likely to watch TV habitually. His data points about the detriments of habitual TV viewing were extremely compelling, especially studies showing that most families were unwilling to swear off TV for a month in exchange for $500, even though they reported enjoying TV only about as much as cleaning their house (which together indicates the presence of a national addiction).

I'm certainly no "technology is the cause of all our ills" type of person, but I do think most people watch way too much TV, and that it's sad how often an entire family or group of friends will retreat to their solo electronic devices rather than engaging with each other. As a matter of fact, I was reading Bowling Alone one day in a cafe where I was eating lunch, and I saw an elderly woman eating lunch with a lady who was presumably her granddaughter. I say "with," but since the lady was absorbed in using her smart phone and flipping through a newspaper while ignoring her grandmother, I don't think she was really "there" in any real sense. That sad scene was a perfect example of the sort of endemic distance and alienation from others that Putnam describes in this book.

Somewhat in contradiction to my earlier statement that this book should have been shorter, I would have liked the author to look at a few more avenues relating to this issue. For example, in his chapter on modern time and money constraints on community involvement, one thing that seemed conspicuously missing was the increase in the volume of homework that students at all levels are assigned now compared to 30 years ago, which can have the effect of not only restricting kids' involvement in extracurricular activities, but can also restrict their parents' time if the students are young enough to need regular help with their piles of homework.

Another factor that Putnam didn't mention was whether/how the increase in the U.S. population has played any role in our alienation from each other. It's obviously easier to connect to people in a small town, and that's not because small towns have some inherent property that makes people want to connect, but because there are simply fewer people around, which means you take what you can get. But if you live in a city of 800,000 people (like I do), it's unlikely that you'll ever see the same stranger twice, much less strike up a friendship with them. It seems intuitively true that as the country's population increases, it will get harder and harder to have meaningful relationships with more than a few select people.

In addition to discussing how the suicide rate has changed over the years, with more people committing suicide at younger ages than ever before, it also would have been instructive for Putnam to mention the disintegration and dissolution of the traditional social structure of Native American tribes, leading to the alcoholism, alienation, and suicide in the face of white American culture that many of them contend with today. I think that would have been an interesting case study that would have supported his position that American society is headed in the wrong direction and that we're suffering because of our lack of community and group affiliation.

Overall, the tone and writing style of this book is pretty tedious and academic and not nearly as reader-friendly as the title and cover would have you believe, but I think the author's choice of topic is deeply interesting and his argument is convincing, which makes it worth the somewhat high cost of admission.(less)

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Aug 01, 2012 Erica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: recommendations, grad-school

Putnam wrote a very thorough analysis of the demise of social capital between the 1960s and 2000s. After demonstrating that social engagement and social capital has, in fact, declined, Putnam explores reasons for the decline and comes away with increasing time at work (and women in the workplace), sprawl, TV watching, and simply generational change. The latter two seem to be the main culprits. he does not mention immigration at all, which I would think could certainly be part of the reason for a...more

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Dec 15, 2008 Thethockmonthter rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is exactly the kind of book I would have hated to have been assigned in college. It has tiny text, tiny margins, 500 pages, and - worst of all - a ton of interesting information that I really wanted to read, but never would have had time to.

The information assembled by Putnam('s legion of grad students) is compelling. Simply put, Americans are less connected in their communities than they used to be and it is affecting everything in their lives.

To me, the most interesting part of the book w...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Tracy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-group, couldn-t-make-it-through

This book made the "couldn't get through" list mostly for time and relevance. I'd wanted to read it for a long time, and my book club chose it. I couldn't get my hands on a copy of the book til a couple days before the meeting. Skimming became necessary both for time and when I realized he spent a really long time trying to make the same point within chapters.

The book was written in 2000, and you immediately notice how irrelevant his voice seems how much US life has changed over the last 12 yea...more

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Feb 26, 2010 FiveBooks rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fivebooks-on-equality

Trevor Phillips OBE ,head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has chosen to discuss Robert D Putnam’s Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Community , on FiveBooks (http://five-books.com) as one of the top five on his subject - Equality, saying that:

“…In the half million interviews compiled for this book, they found that people in American society are less connected, they do fewer things together, they don’t sign petitions. Where they used to go bowling in leagues they n...more

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May 27, 2012 Ronya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sociology

Fascinating book but since it was first written in the mid-90s, it really needs an update. The author contends that American society hasn't resisted either external forces (politics, world events) but internal ones as well, on the community level. People don't join groups as much as they used to; they don't find identity in bowling leagues, church groups, Masonic rituals, VFW organizations, volunteering, etc., and this lack of interest in establishing a social identity or in volunteerism has con...more

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Jan 06, 2010 adam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Heard about this one awhile ago in a class and found a copy while at home. It details how 'social capital' (how well people are connected to society and eachother) has fallen off a cliff in America since 1970, why that's bad, why it happened, and what to do about it. The how was pretty interesting (did a lot of skimming after looking at the plots though). The why it happened was perhaps most interesting (TV does get blamed a lot). Unfortunately, none of his recommendations (now 10yrs old) or goa...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Craig rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am glad I read it, though admittedly it was not easy to make it through this footnote laden scholarly treatise. The message, if you do not have the patience to make it through, can be summarized as follows:

- As a society, the US has seen dramatic decline in our social connectedness in the last 50 years. This shows itself in many ways, including declining club memberships, drops in church attendance, less activity in politics, less socializing with friends, and less involvement in charity servi...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Annie Feighery rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had already been researching social networks and social capital for several years when I realized just how foundational this book was to the field. As I read it, I was amazed that many of these concepts emerged for the first time here--the very concepts that bloomed over the next 16 years into the roots of my dissertation. For what it's worth, I felt the same when I read Bourdieux's Le Capital Social--the two vie for the distinction of founding the field.

I am impressed that a scholar like Put...more

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Apr 29, 2010 Nick Klagge rated it 4 of 5 stars

I know that this has been an important book in my sister's life, and now I think it will become an important book in my own. She was about the same age as I am now when she read it, and I wonder if its strong effect on both of us may be related to this time of one's life--when you've completed all the prerequisite requirements, feel pretty stable and independent, and start thinking about what it is that you really want. Reading this book has been the cornerstone of a lot of time spent thinking a...more

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Jan 02, 2010 Kara rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you're longing for an America of the past where people were citizens and friendships and memberships took priority, Bowling Alone is you book. This must read provides statistics on how to design a better community, how to turn people into citizens. Bowling Alone explains the WHY in how differing demographics function and how to make a change in communities for the better. Once you start weeding through all the numbers, there are true take-aways that you can apply to your family and your neigh...more

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Oct 12, 2009 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars

There are some pretty large problems with this book, not the least of which is Putnam's quickly brushing over anything that can be problematic about community and the dated feeling that his statements about the telephone and internet give the book, but putting this aside, Bowling Alone is a nice treatise on community and its importance in the US. When I first started reading, I thought I would bore quickly of the style, which is a basic pulling and analysis of statistics, but for some reason, I...more

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Dec 10, 2008 Brent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Putnam’s work is a reader friendly and heavily researched saga focused on the apparent drop in social capital today. He bemoaned the loss of social capital and offered a collection of outcomes associated with low social capital. When social capital decreases, Putnam argued that crime rates go up, moral values go down, happiness goes down, quality of government goes down, and political leverage goes down.

Putnam’s idealistic picture of social capital is thoroughly supported by his data, but the un...more

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About Robert D. Putnam

Robert David Putnam is a political scientist and professor of public policy at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also visiting professor and director of the Manchester Graduate Summer Programme in Social Change, University of Manchester (UK). Putnam developed the influential two-level game theory that assumes international agreements will only be successfully broke...more

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Books by Robert D. Putnam

American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us

Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy

Better Together: Restoring the American Community

Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society

The Comparative Study of Political Elites

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