New Releases by Robert D. Putnam

*The basis for the documentary Join or Die—now streaming on Netflix!* Updated to include a new chapter about the influence of social media and the Internet—the 20th anniversary edition of Bowling Alone remains a seminal work of social analysis, and its examination of what happened to our sense of community remains more relevant than ever in today’s fractured America. Twenty years, ago, Robert D. Putnam made a seemingly simple observation: once we bowled in leagues, usually after work; but no longer. This seemingly small phenomenon symbolized a significant social change that became the basis of the acclaimed bestseller, Bowling Alone, which The Washington Post called “a very important book” and Putnam, “the de Tocqueville of our generation.” Bowling Alone surveyed in detail Americans’ changing behavior over the decades, showing how we had become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and social structures, whether it’s with the PTA, church, clubs, political parties, or bowling leagues. In the revised edition of his classic work, Putnam shows how our shrinking access to the “social capital” that is the reward of communal activity and community sharing still poses a serious threat to our civic and personal health, and how these consequences have a new resonance for our divided country today. He includes critical new material on the pervasive influence of social media and the internet, which has introduced previously unthinkable opportunities for social connection—as well as unprecedented levels of alienation and isolation. At the time of its publication, Putnam’s then-groundbreaking work showed how social bonds are the most powerful predictor of life satisfaction, and how the loss of social capital is felt in critical ways, acting as a strong predictor of crime rates and other measures of neighborhood quality of life, and affecting our health in other ways. While the ways in which we connect, or become disconnected, have changed over the decades, his central argument remains as powerful and urgent as ever: mending our frayed social capital is key to preserving the very fabric of our society.

From the author of Bowling Alone and Our Kids, a “sweeping yet remarkably accessible” (The Wall Street Journal) analysis that “offers superb, often counterintuitive insights” (The New York Times) to demonstrate how we have gone from an individualistic “I” society to a more communitarian “We” society and then back again, and how we can learn from that experience to become a stronger, more unified nation. Deep and accelerating inequality; unprecedented political polarization; vitriolic public discourse; a fraying social fabric; public and private narcissism—Americans today seem to agree on only one thing: This is the worst of times. But we’ve been here before. During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, America was highly individualistic, starkly unequal, fiercely polarized, and deeply fragmented, just as it is today. However as the twentieth century opened, America became—slowly, unevenly, but steadily—more egalitarian, more cooperative, more generous; a society on the upswing, more focused on our responsibilities to one another and less focused on our narrower self-interest. Sometime during the 1960s, however, these trends reversed, leaving us in today’s disarray. In a sweeping overview of more than a century of history, drawing on his inimitable combination of statistical analysis and storytelling, Robert Putnam analyzes a remarkable confluence of trends that brought us from an “I” society to a “We” society and then back again. He draws inspiring lessons for our time from an earlier era, when a dedicated group of reformers righted the ship, putting us on a path to becoming a society once again based on community. Engaging, revelatory, and timely, this is Putnam’s most ambitious work yet, a fitting capstone to a brilliant career.

"The bestselling author of Bowling Alone offers [an] ... examination of the American Dream in crisis--how and why opportunities for upward mobility are diminishing, jeopardizing the prospects of an ever larger segment of Americans"--

O objetivo deste livro é contribuir para compreensão do desempenho das instituições democráticas. De que modo as instituições formais influenciam a prática da política e do governo? Mudando-se as instituições, mudam-se também as práticas? Ou a qualidade de uma democracia depende da qualidade de seus cidadãos? ''Estudando as regiões da Itália, este livro examina certas questões fundamentais atinentes à vida cívica. Foi escrito tendo em vista dois tipos muito diferentes de público leitor - os que partilham do meu fascínio pelas sutilezas da vida italiana e os que, sem chegar a tanto, todavia se interessam pela teoria e a prática da democracia. '' - Robert d. Putnam.

Drawing on collaborative research from a distinguished team at Harvard and Manchester universities, The age of Obama asks how two very different societies are responding to the tide of diversity that is being felt around the rich world. Guardian journalist Tom Clark, Robert D. Putnam – best-selling author of Bowling alone – and Manchester’s Edward Fieldhouse offer a wonderfully readable account. Like Bowling alone, The age of Obama mixes social scientific rigor with accessible charts and lively arguments. It will be enjoyed by politics, sociology and geography students, as well as by anyone else with an interest in ethnic relations. Injustice, it turns out, still blight lives of many UK and US minorities – particularly African Americans. And there are signs the new diversity strains community life. Yet in both countries, public opinion is running irreversibly in favour of tolerance. That augurs well for the future – and suggests a British Obama cannot be ruled out.

Based on two new studies, "American Grace" examines the impact of religion on American life and explores how that impact has changed in the last half-century.

Este libro, una de las investigaciones más destacadas de Robert Putnam, es el resultado de una amplia y meticulosa investigación que se inicia en los años setenta. La transferencia de competencias en Italia, desde la administración nacional a los gobiernos regionales, proporcionaba el escenario ideal para estudiar la evolución de nuevas instituciones. Robert Putnam aprovecha esta oportunidad histórica para llevar a cabo un estudio cuyos hallazgos han tenido una repercusión que ha trascendido el caso italiano y cuyas contribuciones a la teoría y la práctica de la democracia contemporánea han tenido un impacto indiscutible.Mediante esta investigación comparada Putnam estudia los distintos factores que, a partir del cambio institucional, influyen en el desigual funcionamiento de los gobiernos regionales italianos. Así, mediante la articulación metodológica de distintas perspectivas teóricas y técnicas de investigación, Putnam indaga en las relaciones existentes entre el desempeño institucional, los factores socioeconómicos y los aspectos socioculturales. Tras realizar un profundo análisis longitudinal y transversal del desarrollo y funcionamiento de los nuevos gobiernos regionales, el autor revela la importancia que la vida cívica y las distintas tradiciones políticas tienen a la hora de explicar el éxito de las instituciones democráticas. Mientras que la tradición de repúblicas comunales existente en el norte y centro de Italia propició el desarrollo de sólidas normas y redes de compromiso cívico, la tradición monárquica del sur condujo al establecimiento de relaciones políticas verticales, lo que se traduce en una vida cívica más débil y fragmentada. En definitiva, Putnam nos demuestra cómo la democracia y sus principales instituciones funcionan mejor en las sociedades dotadas de un mayor capital social, es decir, en aquellas que están basadas en relaciones de confianza, normas de reciprocidad y redes de compromiso cívico.Joan Subirats, catedrático de Ciencia Política de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, autor de la presentación de este nuevo título de la colección Clásicos Contemporáneos del CIS, recorre tanto los aspectos teóricos y metodológicos fundamentales de la obra, como los debates más importantes que ésta ha suscitado desde su publicación.

Discusses why community building is so important and looks at success stories in the United States.

This document looks at the decline of civil society. Topics covered are: social capital; the decline in trust; the decline in civic engagement; bowling alone; the decline in "connectedness"; searching for an explanation; demographic factors; economic factors; age factors; suburbanization, architecture and mobility; the prime suspect; why does it matter?; what can be done?