false 478 2 Few people outside certain scholarly circles had heard the name Robert D. Putnam before 1995. But then this self-described "obscure academic" hit a nerve with a journal article called "Bowling Alone." Suddenly he found himself invited to Camp David, his picture in <I>People</I> magazine, and his thesis at the center of a raging debate. In a nutshell, he argued that civil society was breaking down as Americans became more disconnected from their families, neighbors, communities, and the republic itself. The organizations that gave life to democracy were fraying. Bowling became his driving metaphor. Years ago, he wrote, thousands of people belonged to bowling leagues. Today, however, they're more likely to bowl alone: <p>Television, two-career families, suburban sprawl, generational changes in values--these and other changes in American society have meant that fewer and fewer of us find that the League of Women Voters, or the United Way, or the Shriners, or the monthly bridge club, or even a Sunday picnic with friends fits the way we have come to live. Our growing social-capital deficit threatens educational performance, safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection, democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and even our health and happiness.</p> The conclusions reached in the book <I>Bowling Alone</I> rest on a mountain of data gathered by Putnam and a team of researchers since his original essay appeared. Its breadth of information is astounding--yes, he really has statistics showing people are less likely to take Sunday picnics nowadays. Dozens of charts and graphs track everything from trends in PTA participation to the number of times Americans say they give "the finger" to other drivers each year. If nothing else, <I>Bowling Alone</I> is a fascinating collection of factoids. Yet it does seem to provide an explanation for why "we tell pollsters that we wish we lived in a more civil, more trustworthy, more collectively caring community." What's more, writes Putnam, "Americans are right that the bonds of our communities have withered, and we are right to fear that this transformation has very real costs." Putnam takes a stab at suggesting how things might change, but the book's real strength is in its diagnosis rather than its proposed solutions. <I>Bowling Alone</I> won't make Putnam any less controversial, but it may come to be known as a path-breaking work of scholarship, one whose influence has a long reach into the 21st century. <I>--John J. Miller</I> 4743 2000 Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community total:833|5:148|4:322|3:282|2:70|1:11| 833 3025 1843 142 2 2 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 07 06:08:17 -0800 2008 Tue Apr 01 05:58:50 -0700 2008
Briefly, Putnam rests far too much of his argument on the ...more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 30 11:28:10 -0700 2007 Thu Apr 10 20:07:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 02 16:22:58 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 02 16:34:43 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 true false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 09 20:32:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 30 21:38:46 -0700 2007 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...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat May 26 12:55:47 -0700 2007 Fri Jan 11 14:06:47 -0800 2008
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, suburbanizati...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri Jul 06 18:46:01 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 06 18:54:29 -0700 2007
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...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 12:41:15 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 28 13:02:09 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 10 16:20:33 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 10 16:20:48 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Apr 17 10:18:11 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 10:18:46 -0700 2009 One of the most important works of American political science and social history this decade, the author looks at our society and compares it to earlier decades in the 20th century for striking evidence of less...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Apr 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 15:31:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 15:51:01 -0700 2009
While Putnam makes the point that...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jan 30 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 21:45:37 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 01 21:07:25 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Dec 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 20:19:21 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 05:36:11 -0800 2008
The information assembled by Putnam('s leg...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Oct 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 19:47:55 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 15:34:38 -0700 2009 Bowling Alone is a nice tre...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Dec 10 19:47:51 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 10 19:52:14 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Feb 02 10:28:02 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 10:28:26 -0800 2009
Finally, Robert Putnam's 2000 book Bowling Alone is also one of the most widely read academic texts on the subject of social capital and civic engagement in the United States during the late 20th century. It's totally problematic in many ways (e.g. I'm not certain he would kno...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Apr 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 01 15:10:09 -0800 2009 Fri Apr 17 12:06:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 14:57:43 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 14:57:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu Dec 11 10:52:10 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 28 06:52:29 -0800 2009 ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Oct 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 20:13:45 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 14 06:03:29 -0700 2009
Finding alarming trends in the decline of civic participation, from bowling league...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jul 07 20:19:01 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 06:26:11 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 07 20:19:01 -0700 2008 more...]]>