Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community is a 2000 nonfiction book
by Robert D. Putnam. It was developed from his 1995 essay entitled Bowling Alone: America's
Declining Social Capital. Putnam surveys the decline of "social capital" in the United
States since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse
upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives.
He believes this undermines the active civil engagement which a strong democracy requires
from its citizens.
Contents Putnam discusses ways in which Americans have
disengaged from political involvement including decreased voter turnout, public meeting attendance,
serving on committees and working with political parties. Putnam also cites Americans' growing
distrust in their government. Putnam accepts the possibility that this lack of trust could
be attributed to "the long litany of political tragedies and scandals since the 1960s", but
believes that this explanation is limited when viewing it alongside other "trends in
civic engagement of a wider sort". Putnam notes the aggregate loss in membership
of many existing civic organizations and points out that the act of individual membership
has not migrated to other, succeeding organizations. To illustrate why the decline in Americans'
membership in social organizations is problematic to democracy, Putnam uses bowling as an example.
Although the number of people who bowl has increased in the last 20 years, the number
of people who bowl in leagues has decreased. If people bowl alone, they do not participate
in social interaction and civic discussions that might occur in a league environment.
Putnam then contrasts the countertrends of ever increasing mass-membership organizations,
nonprofit organizations and support groups to the data of the General Social Survey.
This data shows an aggregate decline in membership of traditional civic organizations, supporting
his thesis that U.S. social capital has declined. He then asks the obvious question "Why is
US social capital eroding?". He believes the "movement of women into the workforce", the
"re-potting hypothesis" and other demographic changes have made little impact on the number
of individuals engaging in civic associations. Instead, he looks to the technological "individualizing"
of our leisure time via television, Internet and eventually "virtual reality helmets".
Putnam suggests closer studies of which forms of associations can create the greatest social
capital, how various aspects of technology, changes in social equality, and public policy
affect social capital. He closes by emphasizing the importance of discovering how the United
States could reverse the trend of social capital decay.
Criticism Everett Carll Ladd claimed that Putnam completely
ignored existing field studies, most notably the landmark sociological Middletown studies,
which during the 1920s raised the same concerns he does today, except the technology being
attacked as promoting isolation was radio, instead of television and video games. In
addition, Putnam ignored the work of other scholars who had previously made similar,
in some cases almost identical claims. Neil Postman's work in particular seems to anticipate
much of Putnam's argument by nearly a decade. Likewise, Putnam expresses worries that involvement
with "community groups" is in decline. However, in the Middletown studies, researchers noted
that traditional neighborly ties were in decline although membership in such community groups
was rising, which may suggest that new forms of social ties emerge which are not immediately
visible to the observer. Research by Andersen, Curtis and Grabb, which
explored time-use diaries over a 40-year period in the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, and
the UK, suggests that only in the U.S. has there been a decline in civic participation.
Other critics have also directly attacked the veracity of Putnam's major finding—that
civic participation has in fact been declining. Journalist Nicholas Lemann proposed that rather
than declining, civic activity in the US during the 1990s assumed different forms. Instead
of bowling leagues, parents integrated themselves into social networks and contribute to the
social capital e.g. via youth soccer leagues. Publication data
Putnam, Robert D.. "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital". Journal of Democracy
6: 65–78. doi:10.1353/jod.1995.0002. Putnam, Robert D.. Bowling Alone: The Collapse
and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0304-6.
See also Community building
Dunbar's number Saguaro Seminar
References
External links Official website
Booknotes interview with Putnam on Bowling Alone, December 24, 2000.