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Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community
by Robert D. Putnam

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/478.Bowling_Alone_The_Collapse_and_Revival_of_American_Community?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1156921665m/478.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/478.Bowling_Alone_The_Collapse_and_Revival_of_American_Community?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/260.Robert_D_Putnam">Robert D. Putnam</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1461159?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars 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 This book is outdated.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. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/93875?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Christine's review
rating:
recommended 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 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...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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