“Community, communion, and communication are intimately as well as etymologically related.” – Robert Putnam, ‘Bowling Alone’
Today we share the work of renowned political scientist and sociologist Robert Putnam (1941-) from his seminal work ‘Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community’, which was developed from his 1995 essay ‘Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital’ and first published in 2000.
Best known for his work on social capital and civic engagement, Putnam argued that, over the last several generations, there has been a significant decline in the social capital that enables individuals to coordinate, collaborate, and pursue shared objectives. Emphasizing the importance of rebuilding society’s annihilated social capital in order to revitalize community engagement, health, and involvement, Robert Putnam not only proved that social networks are crucial for the health of democracy, but also detailed ways in which a society can build “bridging” and “bonding” capital with its citizens.
Quotes From ‘Bowling Alone’
Quotes are excerpted from the 20th anniversary, paperback edition of ‘Bowling Alone’, published in 2020 by Simon & Schuster, and organized by topic.
Groups
“Many groups simultaneously bond along some social dimensions and bridge across others.”
“If the linkage of small groups to public life is sometimes tenuous and hard to detect, the comparable connection for social movements is omnipresent.”
“Social movements… create social capital, by fostering new identities and extending social networks.”
Social Capital
“… the core idea of social capital theory is that social networks have value… social capital refers to connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.”
“The community as a whole will benefit by the cooperation of all its parts, while the individual will find in his associations the advantages of the help, the sympathy, and the fellowship of his neighbors.”
“If individual clout and companionship were all there were to social capital, we’d expect foresighted, self-interested individuals to invest the right amount of time and energy in creating or acquiring it. However, social capital also can have “externalities” that affect the wider community, so that not all the costs and benefits of social connections accrue to the person making the contact. Social capital can thus be simultaneously a “private good” and a “public good”.”
“Social connections are… important for the rules of conduct that they sustain… Networks of community engagement foster sturdy norms of reciprocity.”
“Sometimes… reciprocity is specific: I’ll do this for you if you do that for me. Even more valuable, however, is a norm of generalized reciprocity: I’ll do this for you without expecting anything specific back from you, in the confident expectation that someone else will do something for me down the road. The Golden Rule is one formulation of generalized reciprocity.”
“A society characterized by generalized reciprocity is more efficient than a distrustful society, for the same reason that money is more efficient than barter.”
“Frequent interaction among a diverse set of people tends to produce a norm of generalized reciprocity.”
“Civil engagement and social capital entail mutual obligation and responsibility for action.”
“When economic and political dealing is embedded in dense networks of social interaction, incentives for opportunism and malfeasance are reduced.”
“… the positive consequences of social capital [are] mutual support, cooperation, trust, institutional effectiveness…”
“Of all the dimensions along which forms of social capital vary, perhaps the most important is the distinction between bridging [inclusive and outward looking. Examples include civil rights movements, youth service groups, and ecumenical religious organizations] and bonding [exclusive, inward looking, and reinforcing exclusive identities and homogeneous groups. Examples include fraternal organizations, church-based women’s reading groups, and fashionable country clubs].”
“Bonding social capital is good for undergirding specific reciprocity and mobilizing solidarity… Bridging networks, by contrast, are better for linkage to external assets and for information diffusion… bridging social capital can generate broader identities and reciprocity, whereas bonding social capital bolsters our narrow selves.”
“Bonding social capital constitutes a kind of sociological superglue, whereas bridging social capital provides a sociological WD-40.”
“… the strongest predictor of formal community involvement [is] education…”
“The touchstone of social capital is the principle of generalized reciprocity.”
“Communication is a fundamental prerequisite for social and emotional connections.”
“Anonymity and the absence of social cues inhibit social control… The poverty of social cues in computer-mediated communication inhibits interpersonal collaboration and trust… the richer the medium of communication, the more sociable, personal, trusting, and friendly the encounter.”
“If entry and exit are too easy, commitment, trustworthiness, and reciprocity will not develop.”
“… social capital has many features that help people translate aspirations into realities. First, social capital allows citizens to resolve collective problems more easily… Second, social capital greases the wheels that allow communities to advance smoothly… A third way in which social capital improves our lot is by widening our awareness of the many ways in which our fates are linked. [Fourth,] Social capital also operates through psychological and biological processes to improve individuals’ lives.”
“Supporting government through a tax system is a dilemma of collective action… “the prisoner’s dilemma”, “the free-rider problem”, and “the tragedy of the commons,” to name a few… are best solved by an institutional mechanism with the power to ensure compliance with the collectively desirable behavior. Social norms and the networks that enforce them provide such a mechanism.”
“Child development is powerfully shaped by social capital… social capital withinfamilies also powerfully affects your development.”
“… social connectedness boosts educational attainment.”
“In areas where social capital is lacking, the effects of poverty, adult unemployment, and family breakdown are magnified…”
“… social capital can help to mitigate the insidious effects of socioeconomic disadvantage.”
“Social capital affects not only what goes into politics, but also what comes out of it.”
“Creating (or re-creating) social capital is no simple task… To build bridging social capital requires that we transcend our social and political and professional identities to connect with people unlike ourselves. This is why team sports provide good venues for social-capital creation. Equally important and less exploited in this connection are the arts and cultural activities.”
“… social capital is often a valuable by-product of cultural activities whose main purpose is purely artistic.”
“If virtual networks can be combined with in-person networks… collective action can be sustained to undergird genuine democratic change.”
“Networks high in bonding social capital but weak in bridging social capital become susceptible to conspiracy theories and anti-democratic behavior.”
Trust
“Trustworthiness lubricates social life.”
“Dense social ties facilitate gossip and other valuable ways of cultivating reputation – an essential foundation for trust in a complex society.”
“… life expectancy itself is enhanced in more trustful communities.”
“Generalized reciprocity is a community asset, but generalized gullibility is not. Trustworthiness, not simply trust, is the key ingredient.”
“… honesty is encouraged by dense social networks… Trust embedded in personal relations that are strong, frequent, and nested in wider networks…”
“… honesty, civic engagement, and social trust are mutually reinforcing…”
“… social trust can easily generate vicious spirals (or virtuous circles), as my expectations of others’ trustworthiness influences my trustworthiness, which in turn influences others’ behavior.”
“High levels of trust and citizen participation operate through a variety of mechanisms to produce socially desirable outcomes.”
“Where people are trusting and trustworthy, and where they are subject to repeated interactions with fellow citizens, everyday business and social transactions are less costly.”
“Virtually every commercial transaction has within itself an element of trust…”
“… where trust and social networks flourish, individuals, firms, neighborhoods, and even nations prosper.”
Virtues
“Altruism of all sorts is encouraged by social and community involvement… Social connections encourage giving…”
“The norm of generalized reciprocity is so fundamental to civilized life that all prominent moral codes contain some equivalent of the Golden Rule.”
“When people lack connections to others, they are unable to test the veracity of their own views, whether in the give-and-take of casual conversation or in the more formal deliberation. Without such an opportunity, people are more likely to be swayed by their worst impulses.
Thanks for reading!