What is America?
Hi! I'm John, and this is "What is America?" podcast. For the next year, I'm gonna drive around the country and talk to people about their lives. The goal is to help rebuild our broken politics. Wanna come?
What is America?
Ep 13: How'd we get so lonely? (Book Club - Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam)
How’d we get so lonely? Turns out, it wasn’t the invention of DoorDash 🤷🏻♂️🍟
Over the last sixty years, the amount of time Americans spend on social activities got cut in half—down from 13 hours a week in the 60s to just six hours a week today.
So what happened? And what do we do about it?
In his landmark book, Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam introduces the idea of social capital, the network of relationships among people who live and work in a society—relationships that enable that society to function.
Social capital is down across the board in America: across all age groups, races and religions, education levels and tax brackets. But all is not lost. This week, we're talking about Putnam's book, how we got so isolated, and how to rebuild our nation's social connective tissue.
LINKS
Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam (Book): http://bowlingalone.com/
Join or Die (Netflix Documentary): https://www.netflix.com/title/81746809
Last Exit to Elsewhere (YouTube clip): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7sIgpXguVk