54 pages • 1 hour read
Robert D. PutnamBowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Section 2, Chapters 6-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “Informal Social Connections”
“Machers” are people who spend time in formal organizations. They are typically well educated with high incomes. “Schmoozers” (not used here with a negative connotation) are those who engage in informal conversations and social contact. More common than machers, schmoozers engage with others as friends, not citizens. While women have taken on the role of machers upon entry to the professional workforce, they also engage in more informal social contact than men. Putnam stipulates that the two types of social contact, formal and informal, overlap to some extent. Focusing on informal contacts, Putnam highlights the common practice of visiting friends in the US. However, he identifies the declining rate at which Americans interact informally.
In the mid-1970s, the average American entertained friends in their home 14 or 15 times a year versus only eight times by the late 1990s (98). He remarks that the “pace of decline in social visiting [...] has been extraordinary” (100). Within families, there has been a decrease in those who dine together in this period as well. The percentage of families who vacationed together dropped from 53% in 1976 to 38% in 1997, a sign of “rapidly loosening family bonds” (101). Americans play fewer card games, with the numbers dipping from 16 times a year in 1981 to 8 times a year in 1999. This change is mainly generational: The new games of the young, such as video games, are solitary. Putnam concludes that there is a drop in schmoozing, and this trend is confirmed by time budgets. For example, the time spent at worship and with friends has declined 20%. Indeed, informal connections have declined among all segments in American society (108).
Putnam refutes the idea that athletic activities have replaced older forms of social connectedness. Athletic activities have declined for all groups with the exception of senior citizens. The 1980s and 1990s saw no increases in the number of times that Americans attended exercise classes or visited health clubs. Americans spend more time watching sports, however. Just as in the arena of politics, Americans are doing less and observing more as passive spectators. Similarly, they listen to music but make music less often with each other. Finally, Putnam observes that bowling is the most popular competitive sport in the US. Between 1980 and 1993, the number of bowlers increased 10% but membership in bowling leagues was down 40%. People are not literally bowling alone, as his title indicates, but they are not participating in the leagues that encouraged socialization and commitment. It is yet another “vanishing form of social capital” (113).
Chapter 7 Summary: “Altruism, Volunteering, and Philanthropy”
The willingness to help others, evinced by volunteering and philanthropy, is a critical measure of social capital. Putnam explains that “doing with” is better than “doing for” (116), as the latter, such as sending a check, does not create social capital. In other words, volunteering and philanthropy are complements to one another. Indeed, those who volunteer are 10 times more likely to contribute money: The “most consistent predictor of giving time and money is involvement in community life” (119). There is a long tradition of Americans giving generously of their time and money to help others, which de Tocqueville described as habits of the heart in 1835 (122).
While the number of public charities grew between 1989 and 1994 and the whole dollar amount of contributions are large, Putnam notes that Americans are contributing a smaller percentage of their income in 1997 versus 1960. Specifically, Americans contributed $1 for every $2 spent on recreation in 1960, compared to only 50¢ in 1997. Despite increasing prosperity in the 1990s, Americans have been less generous just as they disengaged from their communities.
In contrast, volunteerism has increased but has changed in character. Americans are more likely to volunteer individually to help one another, but less likely to participate in community projects, and the new type of volunteerism is more fragile and sporadic. There are also generational differences as senior citizens have increased their volunteering. Putnam explains that senior citizens are healthier than previously and have free time, but they are also part of the generation that has been the “most resistant to civic disengagement” (132). There is less volunteerism for community projects that require young people, such as firefighting. However, the youngest generation, Generation X, is volunteering at a higher rate than those at their age in the 1970s. Like in other areas, there is less willingness to engage in collective activity and more willingness to go it alone with individual acts of kindness. Since volunteering is tied to good citizenship, it is another important source of health in a society.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Reciprocity, Honesty, and Trust”
Generalized reciprocity, or the willingness to do someone a favor without expecting any immediate return but confident that someone will return the favor someday, is fundamental to civilization and the “touchstone of social capital” (134).
A critical ingredient of generalized reciprocity is trust. Putnam describes “thick trust” as embedded in strong, frequent personal relationships that are situated within wider networks. “Thin trust” applies to acquaintances and is important because it expands trust to unknown people. Those who trust others are more engaged in communities and better citizens, and societies with high levels of trust are more efficient.
In the US, social trust increased from the mid-1940s through the mid-1960s and then reversed course. By a ratio of three-to-one, Americans in 1998 believed that society was less honest than it used to be. Almost all of this decline is due to generational succession. The parents of Baby Boomers, with a trust rate of 80%, are gradually being replaced with a younger generation, with half of that trust level. Thus, even though each age cohort has consistent levels of trust, there is a steady decline. Signs of mistrust include more unlisted phone numbers, call screening, incidents of road rage, and the disappearance of hitchhiking. Crime rates began to rise in the mid-1960s as well. As a result, Americans increasingly rely on formal institutions and the law to resolve matters that were previously handled informally. Indicative of this trend, by 1995, the US “had 40% more police and guards and 150% more lawyers and judges than would have been projected in 1970” (146).
Chapter 9 Summary: “Against the Tide? Small Groups, Social Movements, and the Net”
Putnam identifies and analyzes three trends that challenge his thesis of civic disengagement, specifically, growth in membership in small groups, social movements, and telecommunication. While 40% of Americans belong to small groups, most of the growth has been in self-help and support groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous. These groups provide health and emotional support to Americans but are “not closely associated with regular community involvement such as voting, volunteering” (151), and others.
The erosion of social capital is sure to be detrimental to social movements, as the latter embody and produce social capital. In the last quarter of the 20th century, there was one authentic social movement. The religious right, or evangelicals, created a large, well organized, grassroots movement focused on new political issues, such as abortion. Other movements, such as the environmental movement, are less authentic. Putnam argues that their membership is up, but little is asked of members. Membership means writing checks and does not require interpersonal interaction, which decreases direct civic engagement. State and local chapters of such organizations have atrophied in favor of a tertiary organization run by professionals. Grassroots movements conduct a ground war, rallying people, while these newer movements rely on an air war or advertising. He acknowledges the existence of some grassroots protests on campuses but notes that there is no growth in such protest movements.
The Internet did not cause civic disengagement given that the problem predated it. Putnam considers positive and negative consequences of the medium, new in the 1990s. Its anonymity and absence of social cues flatten hierarchies and prevent social control. Organizational costs are greatly reduced, and virtual communities create the ability to have asynchronous communication. He worries that the Internet will lead to noise rather than deliberation and cites four challenges. First, the digital divide leaves those without resources behind. However, this challenge could be met with public investment. Second, the lack of face-to-face contact prevents communication of non-verbal information, such as eye contact, and inhibits trust. It is possible that improvements in video communication will solve this problem. In its current form, without such cues, electronic conversations are associated with flaming or uncivil and derogatory comments. Third, the Internet encourages cyberbalkanization or the tendency to communicate only with those who have similar opinions. It could cause people to know and care “more and more about less and less” (178). Finally, he worries that commercial forces will turn the Internet into an individualized television. He concludes that the Internet will not automatically offset the decline in social capital because the “evidence on small groups, social movements, and telecommunications is more ambiguous” (180) than in other areas.
Chapters 6-9 Analysis
Putnam details the reduction in informal socializing, such as entertaining friends, in the last third of the 20th century, which has played a part in reducing social capital. Given the enormous benefits from informal connections, such as better educational outcomes for young people, the decline in this area is every bit as concerning as the one in formal venues. People trust others less, which leads to less willingness to engage in reciprocity. The willingness to do something for someone with no expectation of immediate reward but an understanding that someone else will return the favor down the road, or reciprocity, is critical to a functioning society. Likewise, Putnam notes that charitable contributions as a percentage of income are down from the 1960s. While there has been an increase in voluntarism, especially among the young, Putnam worries that the nature of volunteering has changed for the worse. People are less likely to contribute to collective projects and instead volunteer individually. Such forms of volunteering are more fragile and less likely to create social capital.
While Putnam paints an equally bleak picture of the pattern of declining social capital in informal venues, critics argue that he downplays the hopeful signs in these areas. To be sure, Putnam admits that there are some exceptions and that the evidence is more ambiguous in volunteering, small groups, social movements, and the Internet. However, he stresses the negative developments. In contrast, the increase in voluntarism among the youngest and oldest generations could be viewed positively. Later, Putnam highlights his openness to new types of institutions and activities that conform with late 20th-century mores. Perhaps these more individualistic types of volunteering are a better fit for the times and connect people together. Likewise, Putnam is quick to dismiss the explosion in self-help groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous though again, such groups can lead to social connections, both formal and informal, and can transform into politically active groups. For example, consider how those impacted by the opioid crisis held drug companies accountable in court. Putnam notes that there was only one grassroots social movement in the last two decades of the 20th century, namely the evangelical movement. He dismisses smaller movements to stop apartheid in South Africa and against exploitation of foreign workers in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. Putnam explains this contrary evidence to his theory away and instead emphasizes the negative trends.
Putnam provides thoughtful consideration to the potential impact of the Internet on social capital. His concerns are prescient, as he notes the possible danger of people gravitating to those who think like themselves and the use of the medium primarily for privatized entertainment. Yet, like television, the new medium must be included into any new types of institutions and activities. Putnam notes the need for new forms of engagement to fit the times but seems reluctant to accept the staying power of television and the Internet.
