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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 90
Page 9
... figure A illustrates. Bowling Alone was fortuitously timed to resonate far beyond academia. Before I had anything of substance to say on the matter, many Americans had already noticed that they were less civically engaged than their ...
... figure A illustrates. Bowling Alone was fortuitously timed to resonate far beyond academia. Before I had anything of substance to say on the matter, many Americans had already noticed that they were less civically engaged than their ...
Page 32
... figure 1 traces presidential turnout in southern and nonsouthern states over most of the history of the American Republic. 100 90 80 70 60 Outside South 50 Jim Crow laws introduced South 40 Civil rights movement 30 20 10 0 1820 1840 ...
... figure 1 traces presidential turnout in southern and nonsouthern states over most of the history of the American Republic. 100 90 80 70 60 Outside South 50 Jim Crow laws introduced South 40 Civil rights movement 30 20 10 0 1820 1840 ...
Page 38
... Figure 2: Political Organizations with Regular Paid Staff, 1977–1996 voter's sense of commitment to her own team—fell from more than 75 percent around 1960 to less than 65 percent in the late 1990s. Despite a partial recovery in the ...
... Figure 2: Political Organizations with Regular Paid Staff, 1977–1996 voter's sense of commitment to her own team—fell from more than 75 percent around 1960 to less than 65 percent in the late 1990s. Despite a partial recovery in the ...
Page 39
... figure in 1968.21 At first blush one might admire the growing “productivity” in this flourishing industry. Each ... Figure 3: Citizen Participation in Campaign Activities, 1952–1996 Figure 4: Trends in Civic Engagement I: Partisan ...
... figure in 1968.21 At first blush one might admire the growing “productivity” in this flourishing industry. Each ... Figure 3: Citizen Participation in Campaign Activities, 1952–1996 Figure 4: Trends in Civic Engagement I: Partisan ...
Page 41
... (Figure 4 charts these trends.)26 In round numbers, Americans were roughly half as likely to work for a political ... Figure 4: Trends in Civic Engagement I: Partisan Activities Figure 5: Trends in Civic Engagement II: Communal ...
... (Figure 4 charts these trends.)26 In round numbers, Americans were roughly half as likely to work for a political ... Figure 4: Trends in Civic Engagement I: Partisan Activities Figure 5: Trends in Civic Engagement II: Communal ...
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
29 | |
48 | |
65 | |
Connections in the Workplace | 80 |
Informal Social Connections | 93 |
Altruism Volunteering and Philanthropy | 116 |
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 |
Toward an Agenda for Social Capitalists | 402 |
Reciprocity Honesty and Trust | 134 |
Against the Tide? Small Groups Social Movements and the Net | 148 |
Why? | 183 |
Mobility and Sprawl | 204 |
Technology and Mass Media | 216 |
From Generation to Generation | 247 |
What Killed Civic Engagement? Summing Up | 277 |
So What? with the assistance of Kristin A Goss | 285 |
Has the Internet Reversed the Decline | 415 |
Measuring Social Change | 447 |
Sources for Figures and Tables | 457 |
The Rise and Fall of Civic and | 469 |
notes | 477 |
the story behind this book | 545 |
index | 555 |
Common terms and phrases
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