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

by Robert D. Putnam, Kristin A. Goss (Introduction)

In his national bestseller Bowling Alone , Robert Putnam illuminated the decline of social capital in the US. Now, in Democracies in Flux , Putnam brings together a group of leading scholars who broaden his findings as they examine the state of social capital in eight advanced democracies around the world.
The book is packed with many intriguing revelations. The contributors note, for instance, that waning participation in unions, churches, and political parties seems to be virtually universal, a troubling discovery as these forms of social capital are especially important for empowering less educated, less affluent portions of the population. Indeed, in general, the researchers found more social grouping among the affluent than among the working classes and they find evidence of a younger generation that is singularly uninterested in politics, distrustful both of politicians and of others, cynical about public affairs, and less inclined to participate in enduring social organizations. On the bright side, social capital appears as strong as ever in Sweden, where 40% of the adult population participate in "study circles"--small groups who meet weekly for educational discussions.
Offering a panoramic look at social capital around the world, this book makes an important contribution to our understanding of these phenomena.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, Politics, Political Science, Academic

528 pages, Hardcover

First published August 3, 2000

About the author

Robert David Putnam is an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics. He is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. Putnam developed the influential two-level game theory that assumes international agreements will only be successfully brokered if they also result in domestic benefits. His most famous work, Bowling Alone, argues that the United States has undergone an unprecedented collapse in civic, social, associational, and political life (social capital) since the 1960s, with serious negative consequences. In March 2015, he published a book called Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis that looked at issues of inequality of opportunity in the United States. According to the Open Syllabus Project, Putnam is the fourth most frequently cited author on college syllabi for political science courses.[

Reviews

[Michael Ryan]

Interesting but dated. Published in 2002, doesn't mention hipsters, doesn't mention facebook.

It also makes the point that social capital is a rather fuzzy and broad-brush concept. There can be bad social capital (ku klux klan, mafia, tribes). There can be exclusionary social capital (skull and bones club). There can be bridging social capital (big brothers & big sisters of Australia). As such, any changes in the social capital of a country are not necessarily automatically good or bad, helpful or not.

Still, I am a sociology neophyte so I find it fun to read this stuff and there are still practical good ideas hidden in the pages that I might be able to put into practice.

[Jim Talbott]

I found a number of the essays completely engrossing... the two on the US, Japan, Australia, and Sweden. The UK was interesting, but I didn't have a lot of interest in France, Germany, and Spain. I think the problem was that some of the writing wasn't as strong. Spain is actually a fascinating case study on bridging vs. bonding social capital, but I had difficulty getting through the article.



Overall, you have to really be into social capital to like this book, but I would recommend it as a follow up to Bowling Alone and Better Together.

[Hugo]

Recommended by Prof. Godoy

[Andy]

great so far but pretty dense