Abby's review

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://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><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/951987?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>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 diverse and sprawling array of people)--and the struggle to balance between the two, even while both are declining.  He explains the history of social capital and the decline, the possible reasons contributing to the decline, reasons why the decline of social capital is bad for society and suggestions for things that can be done to slow the decline.  Everything he says is extensively researched and cited.  Every time I thought I had come up with a counterargument or a detail he had missed, he addressed it a few pages or chapters later.  The only problem with the book is that it was written in 2000.  A surprising number of things have changed in the last eight years, including but not limited to: 9/11, Katrina, George Bush, Facebook/Myspace, broader expansion of use of the internet, 2008 Democratic Primaries, Iraq War, rise of the "green" movement, cheaper air travel, etc.  In the last section of the book, he challenges society to make a series of changes by 2010, changes that sound somewhat impossible to achieve in so short a time.  But, after just these eight years, it seems that much of what he prescribed is on its way to coming true, and I am very curious as to what he would have to say about it.  Unfortunately, I think his research has moved on to other topics (diversity...).  In any case, this is a very important book about the way members of our society interact (or don't interact) with each other and what that means.  
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/64287?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Abby's review
rating:

bookshelves: favorites
recommended for: Anyone interested in sociology, politics, urbanism and social relationships
status: Read in April, 2008

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 diverse and sprawling array of people)--and the struggle to balance between the two, even while both are declining. He explains the history of social capital and the decline, the possible reasons contributing to the decline, reasons why the decline of social capital is bad for society and suggestions for things that can be done to slow the decline. Everything he says is extensively researched and cited. Every time I thought I had come up with a counterargument or a detail he had missed, he ad...more

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