Bowling AloneOnce 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. |
From inside the book
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Page
Were more and more Americans indeed bowling—as well as worshipping,
picnicking, politicking, and engaging in ... talking about social capital, “bridging”
and “bonding,” and the fact that something palpable had begun to change in
America.
Were more and more Americans indeed bowling—as well as worshipping,
picnicking, politicking, and engaging in ... talking about social capital, “bridging”
and “bonding,” and the fact that something palpable had begun to change in
America.
Page
I explored this in depth in a 2010 book with David E. Campbell, American Grace:
How Religion Divides and Unites Us. That work detailed how Americans today
are experiencing faith in increasingly individualistic ways. This dramatic “rise of ...
I explored this in depth in a 2010 book with David E. Campbell, American Grace:
How Religion Divides and Unites Us. That work detailed how Americans today
are experiencing faith in increasingly individualistic ways. This dramatic “rise of ...
Page
In the 1960s, in fact, community groups across America had seemed to stand on
the threshold of a new era of expanded ... as more Americans worshiped together
than only a few decades earlier, perhaps more than ever in American history.
In the 1960s, in fact, community groups across America had seemed to stand on
the threshold of a new era of expanded ... as more Americans worshiped together
than only a few decades earlier, perhaps more than ever in American history.
Page
One of America's most acute social observers prophesied in 1968, “Participatory
democracy has all along been the political style (if not the ... WHAT HAPPENED
NEXT to civic and social life in American communities is the subject of this book.
One of America's most acute social observers prophesied in 1968, “Participatory
democracy has all along been the political style (if not the ... WHAT HAPPENED
NEXT to civic and social life in American communities is the subject of this book.
Page
Historian David Hackett Fischer's gripping account of opening night in the
American Revolution, for example, reminds us that Paul Revere's alarum was
successful only because of networks of civic engagement in the Middlesex
villages.
Historian David Hackett Fischer's gripping account of opening night in the
American Revolution, for example, reminds us that Paul Revere's alarum was
successful only because of networks of civic engagement in the Middlesex
villages.
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - jonerthon - LibraryThingProbably the last of the older titles that has been on my reading list too long. Though it is dated in some ways, I was glad to finally get through this one and understand why so many planners have ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - ddonahue - LibraryThingThe present withdrawal of the individual from social organizations now resembles the situation after WW I as depicted in Chapter IX of Eckstein's Rites of Spring, in which he describes veteran's eschewal of social commitments. Read full review
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activities adults American analysis archive associations attendance average become behavior Bowling century chapter church cities citizens civic engagement club compared connections correlated DDB Needham decades decline Democracy economic effects equality especially evidence example fact factors figure forms four fraction friends giving groups growth half important income increase individual institutions interest Internet involvement John Journal least less levels lives measures meetings membership movement nearly Needham Life Style neighborhood networks organizations parents participation percent period political population question recent religious reported Research response Review rise Robert Roper roughly share shows single Social and Political social capital society Statistics suggests surveys television Trends trust turn twentieth century United University Press Urban viewing virtually volunteering watching women World York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Bowling Alone |
| Author | Robert D. Putnam |
| Publisher | Simon and Schuster, 2001 |
| ISBN | 0743219031, 9780743219037 |
| Length | 544 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Social History History / United States / 20th Century Political Science / Public Policy / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |