Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American CommunityOnce we bowled in leagues, usually after work -- but no longer. This seemingly small phenomenon symbolizes a significant social change that Robert Putnam has identified in this brilliant volume, Bowling Alone, which The Economist hailed as "a prodigious achievement." 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 physical and civic health, nor had anyone exalted their fundamental power in creating a society that is happy, healthy, and safe. Like defining works from the past, such as The Lonely Crowd and The Affluent Society, and like the works of C. Wright Mills and Betty Friedan, Putnam's Bowling Alone has identified a central crisis at the heart of our society and suggests what we can do. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 13 | |
| 29 | |
Civic Participation | 48 |
Religious Participation | 65 |
Connections in the Workplace | 80 |
Informal Social Connections | 93 |
Altruism Volunteering and Philanthropy | 116 |
SO WHAT? with the assistance of Kristin A Goss | 285 |
Education and Childrens Welfare | 296 |
Safe and Productive Neighborhoods | 307 |
Economic Prosperity | 319 |
Health and Happiness | 326 |
Democracy | 336 |
The Dark Side of Social Capital | 350 |
WHAT IS TO BE DONE? | 365 |
Reciprocity Honesty and Trust | 134 |
Against the Tide? Small Groups Social Movements | 148 |
Why? | 159 |
Introduction | 183 |
Pressures of Time and Money | 189 |
Mobility and Sprawl | 204 |
Technology and Mass Media | 216 |
From Generation to Generation | 247 |
What Killed Civic Engagement? Summing Up | 277 |
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activities adults African Americans American analysis of DDB Author’s analysis average Barry Wellman behavior boomers Bowling chapter Chicago church attendance civic disengagement civic engagement club meetings cohort compared computer-mediated communication connections correlated DDB Needham decades decline Democracy economic effects evidence example face-to-face Facebook figure fraction friends Gilded Age groups growth half important income increase individual Internet Journal less levels lives membership mobility movement National nearly Needham Life Style neighborhood neighbors organizational organizations parents participation percent Pew Research Center Political Trends surveys population predictor Progressive Era Protestant Putnam religious reported Research Robert Roper Social roughly Social and Political social capital social connectedness social media social networks Social Survey social trust society Statistics Style survey archive television Theda Skocpol tion twentieth century University Press Urban virtually voluntary associations volunteering watching women workplace York