Bowling Alone

Bowling Alone: bridging communities

A form of social capital which brings together (BRIDGES) people from diverse backgrounds. Putnam says that the civil rights movement, youth service groups and ecumenical religious organizations are all examples of BRIDGING social capital communities. They help people generate broader identities outside of their primary ones and are really valuable for spreading ideas and getting ahead.

Bowling Alone: story of Roseto, PA

A town which demonstrates how important social cohesion is. Researchers studied the small Italian American community for 40 years beginning in the 1950s when medical researchers noticed that compared with residents of neighboring towns, Rosetans did not die of heart attacks. Their heart attack rate was less than half that of their neighbors; over a 7 year period not a single Roseto resident under age 47 had died of a heart attack.

Bowling Alone: bonding communities

Bonding social capital communities are like superglue. They provide cohesion within a homogenous social group or structure. For example they provide crucial social and psychological support for less fortunate members of a community. They create very strong in group loyalty but can also create strong out group antagonism. Some examples are (singular) religious groups, sororities & fraternities, single purpose groups and clubs, etc.

Bowling Alone - Overview

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community is a 2000 nonfiction book by Robert D. Putnam. It was developed from his 1995 essay entitled Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital. Putnam surveys the decline of social capital in the United States since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives. He argues that this undermines the active civil engagement, which a strong democracy requires from its citizens.

Bowling Alone: social capital

Putnam defines social capital as the connections among individuals - social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. Putnam says that a society of many virtuous but isolated individuals is not necessarily rich in social capital. The term was first used in 1916 by a state supervisor of rural schools in West Virginia who used the term to call attention to the ways in which our lives are made more productive by social ties. Putnam encourages studying which forms of associations can create the greatest social capital, how various aspects of technology, changes in social equality, and public policy affect social capital. He closes by emphasizing the importance of discovering how the United States could reverse the trend of social capital decay. He distinguishes between BONDING and BRIDGING social capital.

General

Putnam discusses ways in which Americans have disengaged from political involvement including decreased voter turnout, public meeting attendance, serving on committees and working with political parties. Putnam also cites Americans' growing distrust in their government. Putnam accepts the possibility that this lack of trust could be attributed to "the long litany of political tragedies and scandals since the 1960s",[1] but believes that this explanation is limited when viewing it alongside other "trends in civic engagement of a wider sort".[1] Putnam notes the aggregate loss in membership and number of volunteers in many existing civic organizations such as religious groups (Knights of Columbus, B'nai Brith, etc.), labor unions, Parent-Teacher Association, Federation of Women's Clubs, League of Women Voters, military veterans' organizations, volunteers with Boy Scouts and the Red Cross, and fraternal organizations (Lions Clubs, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, United States Junior Chamber, Freemasonry, Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.).[2] To illustrate why the decline in Americans' membership in social organizations is problematic to democracy, Putnam uses bowling as an example. Although the number of people who bowl has increased in the last 20 years, the number of people who bowl in leagues has decreased. If people bowl alone, they do not participate in social interaction and civic discussions that might occur in a league environment.[3] Putnam then contrasts the countertrends of ever increasing mass-membership organizations, nonprofit organizations, and support groups to the data of the General Social Survey. This data shows an aggregate decline in membership of traditional civic organizations, supporting his thesis that U.S. social capital has declined. He then asks the obvious question "Why is US social capital eroding?".[4] He believes the "movement of women into the workforce",[5] the "re-potting hypothesis"[6][7] and other demographic changes have made little impact on the number of individuals engaging in civic associations. Instead, he looks to the technological "individualizing" of our leisure time via television, Internet, and eventually "virtual reality helmets".[8]

Lessons Learned from Story of Roseto, PA

Rosette towns people grew out of the immigration of a very close knit group who came from the same southern Italian village. As a result, the residents had developed a tight knit community where they learned to draw on one another for financial, emotional, and psychological support. As young people became more socially mobile and began to reject the tight knit Italian folkways, the heart attack rate began to rise.

Bowling Alone: happiness; relationship to community

Social connectedness has huge impact on health and well being.