Theme Of Social Capital In Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone

In his book “Bowling Alone,” Robert Putnam discusses his thoughts on the idea of “social capital” and how it plays a part in society. Putnam is an American political scientist who specializes in comparative politics. The main point of “Bowling Alone” is that many societal changes have caused a sharp decline in Americans’ participation in their communities. “Social capital refers to the connections among individuals - social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them (Putnam, pg 15).” Social capital is so necessary because it keeps America’s communities together. Not only are people participating less in their church groups or PTAs, but there is also a lower amount of political involvement, and people

Since the publishing date is 2000, voter turnout amongst young people is still lower, but it has been climbing. Young Americans are starting to realize that they need to vote to try and displace their grandparents’ votes. With the issues that have been happening with racial problems and the revoking of abortion rights, people are going out to vote for these critical issues that directly impact them. Urban sprawl is still happening; people do not want to live in overcrowded, expensive cities. Traffic through the cities and in and out of the suburbs is still very dense. Traveling is still tricky and takes a longer time than in rural areas. Technology has advanced since 2000 and keeps people even more connected than ever. You can tweet at your Senator, and there is a good chance that they will see it. In the past ten years, there has been a rise in political activism on social media with the Black Lives Matter movement, the Me Too movement, and now the turnover of Roe v. Wade. Technology ties into the generational issue as well. Young people use social media to be more politically involved and reach their local, state, and federal

Putnam could have regarded more data that went against his thoughts. The reports he mentioned in the chapter on time and money brought up excellent points that proved that Putnam’s ideas could be wrong. Putnam demonstrated why those counters might not apply to the issues with civic engagement and why his ideas were more robust. Putnam did not bring in counters for all four of his main points. His argument could have been stronger had he disproved more counters. In the past twenty-three years, most of Putnam’s points have been turned around in a way, especially in his disdain for the growth of technology. Social media has been taken advantage of by both political leaders and American citizens alike. Technology was one of the issues that Putnam spent the most time discussing how damaging it was. On the other hand, many positives come with technology, and Putnam could have spent more time diving into those. Overall, Putnam did a good job of explaining his ideas and how they affected civil engagement in the 1990s and early