Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

Front Cover
Simon and Schuster, Aug 1, 2001 - History - 544 pages
Once 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

Contents

preface
1
Thinking about Social Change in America
15
Trends in Civic Engagement and Social Capital
29
Civic Participation
48
Religious Participation
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
Copyright

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About the author (2001)

Robert D. Putnam is the Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and a former Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Nationally honored as a leading humanist and a renowned scientist, he has written fourteen books, including the bestselling Our Kids and Bowling Alone, and has consulted for the last four US Presidents. In 2012, President Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal, the nation’s highest honor for contributions to the humanities. His research program, the Saguaro Seminar, is dedicated to fostering civic engagement in America. Visit RobertDPutnam.com.

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