Every time I thought I had come up with a counterargument or a detail he had missed, he addressed it a few pages or chapters later. Also? Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival of American Community By ROBERT D. PUTNAM Simon & Schuster. Start by marking “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community” as Want to Read: Error rating book. This is one of those books that I suspect of being cited (and argued against) far more often than it's read. Read a book. Start your review of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. They frequently socialized with neighbors. Book Review: Bowling Alone. What I got was social science, proving with reams of statistics what is now a commonplace, that social capital in America has eroded massively over the past several decades. Shelves: school, politics. It will surely be much talked about, and it deserves to be. For instance he argues that the increasing demand for and subsequent supply of lawyers in contemporary US society represents the handicapping erosion of trust and good faith among fellow citizens. I was wondering what others thought; has social media failed us in its attempt to build community? It is extremely readable—and not merely by the rather low standards of academic political science; and it is packed with provocative information about the social and political habits of twentieth-century Americans. He describes this trend in interesting ways. translated by But, paradoxically, it’s not clear that most readers nowadays. Robert Putnam's seminal treatise on social capital is jam-packed with statistics and information to back up his claims that social capital has been on a serious decline since the 1960s, much to the detriment of American society. Trouble signing in? But what stands out most about “Bowling Alone” at 20 is the absence of any clear way forward. He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. This book examines what Putnam believes was the downfall of civic participation or civic health throughout the 20th century in America. I am squarely in this book's target audience. ; Ibram X. Kendi I slogged my way through this book, thinking that I needed to read it to better understand the social capital in my own community. Perhaps ironically, I read much of this book on a flight in an effort to avoid conversation with my neighbors. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Where we used to enjoy movies together in the theater, we now stay at home; where we used to bowl in leagues, which have disappeared. I'm pretty sure it didn't move a stone, in terms of social awakening. Turns out, I was very wrong. He is also visiting professor and director of the Manchester Graduate Summer Programme in Social Change, University of Manchester (UK). The trend continues, according to recent research. The classic that triggered the movement to study and document the collapse of "social capital" - obligatory and reciprocal social relationships that build through more regular human interaction with neighbors as well as in groups like bowling leagues (hence the metaphor in the title) and civic groups. The author then reframes those received ideas with inexorable logic: “Either racist policy or Black inferiority explains why White people are wealthier, healthier, and more powerful than Black people today.” If Kendi is justifiably hard on America, he’s just as hard on himself. 1. Share with your friends! Robert David Putnam is a political scientist and professor of public policy at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. HISTORY, by He also fails to explore the possibility that the causes of social disconnectedness lie as much in changing personal cultural attitudes (the subject of social psychology) as in external practices and institutions (the stuff of sociology). The extraordinary thing is through this connection, one found that the other needed a kidney, and volunteered to see if he could help is fellow bowler. But, more importantly, Putnam’s ideas have a weight and carry implications that will resonate with scholars and laymen alike. Categories: The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the... by Lots of good info but a bit dense. His most famous (and controversial) work, Bowling Alone, argues that the United States has undergone an unprecedented collapse in civic, social, associational, and political life (social capital) since the 1960s, with serious negative consequences. I should have been an easy fan. GENERAL HISTORY | & Beyond describing the facts as they are, however, Putnam also forecasts in economic, political, and moral terms the consequences already accruing and what might lay in store for the future if people don't embrace a renewed ethic of participation. It’s probably why most seemed to think America is declining and the like. ‘The Upswing’ Review: Bowling Alone No More? They both belong to a bowling league. 18 years later I have and honestly, I would have enjoyed it more then. Refresh and try again. and Like anyone else who knows a thing or two about political participation and social capital, this book rings hollow and insincere at certain points. I can't think of a more oft-referenced book about American life in this early part of the 21st century, except, of course, Malcolm Gladwell's stuff.)