Week Seven – 7A

College Writing

Self, Society & Sustainability

Role of Associational Life

More Recently – Putnam

BowlingAloneAmerica’s Declining Social CapitalJournal of Democracy 6.1 (1995): 65-78

New York: Simon & Schuster,

2000

Robert D. PutnamPeter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard

‘He has written more than a dozen books, including Bowling Alone and Making Democracy Work, both among the most cited publications in the social sciences in the last half century.  He was consulted by the last three American presidents, the last three British prime ministers, the current French president, and hundreds of grassroots leaders and activists in many countries.’ 

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro/staff/putnam.htm

First recorded use of ‘social capital’

‘those tangible assets [that] count for most in the daily lives of people: namely goodwill, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse among the individuals and families who make up a social unit.’

Lyda Hanifan, state supervisor of rural schools in VA (1916) (OECD Insights: Human Capital)

Putnam’s benign concept of social capital

‘social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them’

Bowling Alone (2000), 19

Tocqueville, the ‘patron saint of contemporary social capitalists’Putnam, Bowling Alone, 292

‘Americans of all ages, stations, and dispositions are forever forming associations. There are not only commercial and industrial associations, but others of a thousand different types – religious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very limited, immensely large and very minute. . . . Nothing, in my view, more deserves attention than the intellectual and moral associations in America.’Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Bowling alone as symbol of

disassociation

‘more Americans are bowling today than ever before, but bowling in organized leagues has plummeted in the last decade or so. Between 1980 and 1993 the total number of bowlers in America increased by 10 percent, while league bowling decreased by 40 percent.’

(Putnam, 70)

 

Declining social capital: associationism

Trend: falling membership

Church-related groups

Labour unions

Fraternal and veterans’ organisations

School-service groups (PTAs)

Countertrend: rising membership

Professional associations

Campaign & interest groups

‘Mail-order membership’ of charitable organisations

Support groups

Declining social capital: neighbours

Knowing your neighbour

Socialising with neighbours

Ghettos and gated communities

Bonding and bridging

Declining social capital:social trust

Trust in national and local government Trust in government declined from 75% in 1960s

to 19% in 1994 surveY

Trust in national and local institutions

Trust in public honesty

Correlation Participation in civic associations

Voter turnout

Trust

‘People in Minnesota, for example, are the most trusting people in the United States. They are also amongst the most intense joiners. And they are the most likely to turn out to vote.’

Putnam, ‘Interview’

Restoring social capital12 case-studies of community development projects, from urban renewal to online bulletin boards

‘they all involve making connections among people, establishing bonds of trust and understanding, building community. In other words, they all involve creating social capital: developing networks of relationships that weave individuals into groups and communities.’ (Putnam, 1)

New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003

New York Mills Community Garden

benefits gardeners (fun hobby),

would-be-gardeners (new skill) and

those needing to stretch a dollar (reduced grocery bill).

GAAIrish amateur sports

provide a platform for members of local

communities to come together. GAA sports

appeal to all age levels and foster community

spirit through local clubs.

Objections to Putnam’s theory of social capital

Trust is the consequence not the cause of social capital

Its presumption in favour of church membership and bowling leagues, and against TV and new media

It can be used to justify cuts in public spending

It tends to blame the poor for their inadequate social skills

‘citizenship is not a spectator sport’Putnam, Bowling Alone, 342

For more Putnam on video: (15minutes)

http://wn.com/robert_putnam_on_social_capital_part_1

Discussion Point:

Discussion Point:Do you think your generation are less altruistic/ socially engaged than previous generations?

Discussion Point

Does it matter that social capital is declining?

Discussion Point:

Does social capital have any negative effects?

Discussion Point:

After Putnam

What changes have taken place since Bowling Alone was published?

Discussion Point:

What effect has technology had on of social capital?

Do social-networking sites help or hurt social capital?

The rapid growth of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter suggests that individuals are creating a virtual-network consisting of both bonding and bridging social capital. Unlike face to face interaction, people can instantly connect with others in a targeted fashion by placing specific parameters with internet use.

Critics of virtual communities believe that the Internet replaces our strong bonds with online weak-ties or with socially empty interactions with the technology itself. Others fear that the Internet can create a world of "narcissism of similarity," where sociability is reduced to interactions between those that are similar in terms of ideology, race, or gender. A few articles suggest that technologically-based interactions has a negative relationship with social capital by displacing time spent engaging in geographical/ in-person social activities. However, the consensus of research shows that the more people spend online the more in-person contact they have, thus positively enhancing social capital.

Final Discussion Point:

What are you doing to grow your social capital?

Take the survey