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October 5, 2010: Bowling Alone: The Decline of Social Capital





Topic Host: Carri Hulet

Societal well-being can be measured in a number of ways. One measure is "physical capital," or the value of all the material goods in circulation. Another is "human capital," the aggregate value of the education and skills that members of the society possess.

For Tuesday's discussion, we are interested in the value of "social capital," or the value of social networks (i.e. who you know and spend time with). In society, if a lot of people know and spend time with a lot of people, social capital is high. If the reverse is true, social capital is low. The value of these networks is often judged by how diverse the network (see the New Yorker cartoon above for a little tongue-in-cheek criticism of that notion).

Research shows that social capital has dramatically decreased in the United States since the mid-1960s and there is strong evidence that this loss of social capital has surprisingly far-reaching negative effects on our health, safety, and general well-being.

Our discussion will focus on the following questions:
What is social capital?
Why does social capital matter?
What can we do to increase social capital?

Most of the scholarship on this topic has come from research by Robert Putnam, the author of the book for which this session is named, "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community." Professor Putnam also organized a multi-year research group on this topic called The Saguaro Seminar (http://www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro/). The result of their work was published in a book called "Better Together: Restoring the American Community." Most of our readings come from Putnam and his colleagues in these endeavors.

For Tuesday, please:
1) Read an overview of social capital research: FAQs from the Better Together website
http://www.bettertogether.org/faqs.htm#saguaro

2) Read these factoids from the Saguaro Seminar's website:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro/factoids.htm#

3) Look through this list and come prepared to talk about what you think of one or two of the suggestions.
150 things you can do to build social capital
http://www.bettertogether.org/150ways.htm


Optional

1) This PDF is the transcript from a talk Putnam gave at an OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) Conference. The whole thing is worth reading, but for our discussion it would be most helpful for you to become familiar with the charts on pp. 16 - 32 and understand what they're telling us. Putnam describes each of these charts in pp. 10 - 14.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/25/6/1825848.pdf

2) Read the first few pages of Chapter One of "Bowling Alone"
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Bowling-Alone/Robert-D-Putnam/9780743203043/browse_inside

3) Read some recent research on the "Effect of Facebook on Social Capital"
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html

4) Listen to this 7-minute interview from NPR's All Things Considered with Robert Putnam (You will need RealPlayer)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1074874

Comments

  1. Hi all,

    Sorry I couldn't make this Carri—I decided to do this study group thing alone.

    Actually I was ill. But I did enjoy reading the materials on the blog. A very timely and worthwhile subject. I read with interest the list of 145 things to remedy the bowling alone fever. May I add my recommendation of serving on one's community council. I did that for some 15 years and found it a valuable way to learn how government works a the grass roots level. Not only do you create some lasting relationships with people you otherwise wouldn't meet, but you have the opportunity to have a lasting effect on your neighborhood and larger community through your efforts.

    A second recommendation: Many of you have probably seen "The Soloist." I just recently saw it and throughly enjoyed it. One of the primary themes is to simply be a friend to a homeless person. Much to Jane's chagrin, I have had homeless people in our home a number of times. It isn't always pleasant but usually is very worthwhile—probably more so for me than the individual we are trying to befriend. One needs to exercise caution though and I have been less likely to do this since the Elizabeth Smart incident. Last year a homeless man named Eugene and I became friends when I found him on my street with a broken down bicycle. He has been to our home a number of times to share meals, watch a movie and to work with me on projects I need help with. The last time he refused to take the money I offered in payment because he did the work "as a friend" and to take the money would indicate otherwise. Interesting.

    Eugene lives in a beat-up tent all year around in a canyon not far from me. His mode of preferred transportation is a bicycle primarily for environmental reasons. He works just enough to feed his voracious reading habit. In an email a month ago, here's what he listed as his current reads: "I got the Geste of Robin Hoode, the main source of Robin Hood, which I'm reading sporadically; the Laura Ingalls Wilder books; Mallory's Le Morte D'Arthur; and I'd like to finish Kant's Critique of Pure Reason." Hmmm, interesting combination.

    We have interesting religious and philosophical discussions, mainly initiated by him. I have found him very honest with me. Eugene is about 45, a veteran, and has a degree in philosophy. His passion is to translate Greek and Latin. He would love to do this for a living. Despite my encouragement to help him find a permanent location and a regular job he would rather not. Part of my concern is that he's diabetic. He has to give himself a shot each day, whether it's 10 degrees in the dead of winter in his tent or not. I've expressed my concern that his lifestyle will become more difficult and dangerous as he gets older. As it approaches winter again my thoughts are drawn to him more. If any of you have ideas in how to help Eugene please let me know. It takes a village as they say.

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