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 89
Page 32
... twentieth century. Participation in presidential elections has declined by roughly a quarter over the last thirty- six years. Turnout in off- year and local elections is down by roughly this same amount.2 For several reasons, this ...
... twentieth century. Participation in presidential elections has declined by roughly a quarter over the last thirty- six years. Turnout in off- year and local elections is down by roughly this same amount.2 For several reasons, this ...
Page 33
... twentieth century among Americans who were free to vote.4 With the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, millions of newly enfranchised men and women in the South were able for the first time in the twentieth ...
... twentieth century among Americans who were free to vote.4 With the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, millions of newly enfranchised men and women in the South were able for the first time in the twentieth ...
Page 53
... twentieth century reveal a strikingly parallel pattern across many different civic associations. This pattern is summarized in figure 8, which is a composite of the changing membership rates for thirty- two diverse national ...
... twentieth century reveal a strikingly parallel pattern across many different civic associations. This pattern is summarized in figure 8, which is a composite of the changing membership rates for thirty- two diverse national ...
Page 55
... century old in the 1960s) to the newer service clubs like the Lions and the League of Women Voters (roughly four ... twentieth century the local PTA was among the most common of community organizations. For example, one grassroots survey ...
... century old in the 1960s) to the newer service clubs like the Lions and the League of Women Voters (roughly four ... twentieth century the local PTA was among the most common of community organizations. For example, one grassroots survey ...
Page 56
... century up to 1960 another 1.6 percent of all American families with kids—more than 400,000 families a year—was ... twentieth century interrupted with only the briefest of pauses during the Great Depression and for a single year during ...
... century up to 1960 another 1.6 percent of all American families with kids—more than 400,000 families a year—was ... twentieth century interrupted with only the briefest of pauses during the Great Depression and for a single year during ...
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 |
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Common terms and phrases
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