Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

Résumé du document

Putnam is observing the decline of organization membership since the 1970s, with a sharp fall in the 1990s. Old volunteers are dying, and kids are not joining. He proves the decline of participation and trust in the American society by using polls. He concludes that social capital increased between 1947 and 1965 and decreased between 1965 and 1998. But he tries to avoid a 'Declensionist' perspective, by reminding that the 1960s was not a golden age. 'Life was straight, Christian, comfortable, and at least in the public sphere, male'.

Extraits

[...] It reinforces exclusive identities. It is better for “getting The “Bonding” social capital may create strong out-group antagonism; we can then expect negative aspects to be more common. Nevertheless many groups simultaneously bond along and bridge across. These are not either/or categories but more or less dimensions The explanations: What killed civic engagement? a. The breakdown of the traditional family Evidence of the loosening of family bonds is unequivocal (“Married and have kids at home” were 40% of the American population in 1970 to 26% in 1997).Putnam argues that it has not much contributed to civic disengagement, but it changes the kinds of social networks. [...]

[...] It is simultaneously a private and public good. Externalities insure a general reciprocity : “I'll do this for you without expecting anything back, in the confident expectation that someone will do something for me down the road”. Networks are generally good for those inside the network, but the external effects of social capital are by no means always positive (urban gangs, nimby). Putnam differentiates: - Bridging social capital (inclusive): it refers to weak ties, relations with distant friends, associates, colleagues. [...]

[...] "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community", Robert Putnam (2000) - le renouveau de la cimmunauté américaine 1. The decline of Americans participation and socialising Putnam is observing the decline of organisation membership since the 1970s, with a sharp fall in the 1990s. Old volunteers are dying, and kids are not joining. He proves the decline of participation and trust in the American society using polls ( of Americans considered that “Most people can be trusted” ; believed their parent's generation was better in “being a concerned citizen, involved in helping” thought theirs was). [...]

[...] The link is made here with the “white flight”: legal desegregation of civic life led whites to withdraw from community associations. The erosion of social capital has affected all races. Until the1980s blacks were more likely to belong to both ethnic and religious associations. Among whites civic disengagement is not correlated with racial intolerance or support for segregation c. Big government and growth of the social welfare state: crowding out private initiative If it is partly true that some policies may have destroyed social capital clearances” ; tax policies created disincentives for civic minded philanthropy) there is no correlation between State government spending and social capital in America. [...]

[...] However there is a link between globalisation and the decline of civic commitment of business leaders. Conclusions: what contributed to the diminution of social and community involvement? 1. Pressures of time ant money (threat on leisure) Suburbanisation, commuting and urban sprawl Electronic entertainment in privatising our leisure time 25% of joint impact of generation and Television, the TV generation) 4. Generational change, the cohort effect of replacement of the long civic generation by their less involved children and grandchildren Criticisms of the theory - Social capital is generally assumed as good, where as it can have negative externalities - Analysis based on data that were not primarily established for social capital - The changing patterns of memberships are not measured: what if the younger generation was not less active but in new ways? [...]