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 6-10 of 86
Page 48
... Club, the Polish Army Veterans Association of America, the Southern Appalachian Dulcimer Association, and the National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History. Some of these groups may be the organizational equivalent of vanity press ...
... Club, the Polish Army Veterans Association of America, the Southern Appalachian Dulcimer Association, and the National Association for Outlaw and Lawman History. Some of these groups may be the organizational equivalent of vanity press ...
Page 52
... club or prayer group and more like the bond between two Yankees fans on opposite coasts (or perhaps two devoted L. L. Bean catalog users): they share some of the same interests, but they are unaware of each other's existence. Their ties ...
... club or prayer group and more like the bond between two Yankees fans on opposite coasts (or perhaps two devoted L. L. Bean catalog users): they share some of the same interests, but they are unaware of each other's existence. Their ties ...
Page 53
... club and the Parent- Teacher Association.15 In each case we measure membership as a fraction of the pool of members in the population—4-H membership as a fraction of all rural youth, Hadassah membership as a fraction of all Jewish women ...
... club and the Parent- Teacher Association.15 In each case we measure membership as a fraction of the pool of members in the population—4-H membership as a fraction of all rural youth, Hadassah membership as a fraction of all Jewish women ...
Page 55
... clubs like the Lions and the League of Women Voters (roughly four decades old in the 1960s). By the late 1950s, however ... club secretaries long accustomed to announcing new membership records with monotonous annual regularity did not ...
... clubs like the Lions and the League of Women Voters (roughly four decades old in the 1960s). By the late 1950s, however ... club secretaries long accustomed to announcing new membership records with monotonous annual regularity did not ...
Page 60
... club meeting?” Figure 11 shows how this form of civic engagement has dwindled over the last quarter of the twentieth 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% eet ti mm oC n o r oreciffOsa de v re r aeY t saP e ht n i n oitazinagrO r o b ul S e vaHo hW t n ...
... club meeting?” Figure 11 shows how this form of civic engagement has dwindled over the last quarter of the twentieth 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% eet ti mm oC n o r oreciffOsa de v re r aeY t saP e ht n i n oitazinagrO r o b ul S e vaHo hW t n ...
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
activities adults American analysis archive associations attendance average become Bowling century chapter church civic engagement club compared connections correlated DDB Needham decades decline Democracy economic effects equality evidence example face fact factors figure five 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 relative religious reported Research Review rise Robert Roper roughly share shows single Social and Political social capital society Statistics suggests surveys television third tion Trends trust turn twentieth century twenty United University Press Urban virtually volunteering watching women World York