A Decline in American Community

I recently started reading the well-known book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam, a Harvard professor who documents the unraveling of American community over the last several decades. His book is far too long and complicated to summarize succintly here, but the basic premise is that over the last few decades, Americans have been less involved in various community organizations and activities, whether they be religious groups, civic groups such as the Rotary, political organizations, or even informal card games or family dinners. The evidence he presents is astonishing: in virtually all types of organizations, there was a decline in membership during the Depression, a subsequent boom after World War II, and then a decline starting in the late 1960's.

His thesis is that we obtain "social capital" through both formal organizations and more casual social interactions, and that the decline in this capital could potentially have a very harmful long-term effect on our society if we do not reverse it. This capital is very beneficial in maintaining a sense of well-being, interconnectedness, and economic prosperity. I have not gotten very far through the book yet, but Putnam presents various reasons for this decline. One of the biggest is that we are spending more time at work, yet we are forming few close connections there. In addition, we are "joining" organizations that merely require a donation or an email address rather than any face-to-face time.

I could go on and on about Putnam's book, but I want to connect his observations to my own personal experiences, namely my current summer job. Right now I am working as a field canvasser for The Maine People's Alliance, a non-profit citizen action group based in Portland, Maine. Basically, I go door-to-door talking to people about Social Security and trying to get them to sign a petition against Bush's privatization plan. I have done canvassing work before, but this is undoubtedly the most time I have devoted to it, so I have learned quite a bit.

Every day of the job, I have some sort of experience that I am able to connect with Putnam's work. There are a discouraging number of people who either don't answer the door(when I can tell perfectly well that they are home), say they are not interested in talking to me, or give me some sort of lame (and often blatantly false) excuse. It has become plainly clear that many individuals are not only unused to having someone knock on their door-they are downright annoyed. Add this to the number of no trespassing signs I have seen, plus the number of unleashed, aggressive dogs that patrol people's front doors, and it's easy to see how Americans' sense of rugged individualism can be taken so far that they seem to forget that they do not live in a bubble.

Now don't get me wrong-I don't expect everyone to have a pleasant conversation with me, sign my petition, and give me money. But I do expect people to give me with the basic level of respect that every human being deserves. One woman told me the other day: "I don't agree with your position, but I am glad you are out here getting involved in politics." Amen. I wish more people would say that. The fact is, getting out there trying to change things is much better than just accepting the status quo. Pretty much anyone who is passionate about an issue deserves credit for speaking their mind and getting engaged.

I will close by saying that it will be interesting to see how my perspectives change throughout the summer. Hopefully things will get better, and I will start being welcomed into people's homes with open arms. But I doubt it. Americans have been huddled in front of their TV's in their housing developments for decades now, so the process will not be reversed in a matter of a few months. I hate to sound self-righteous, but simply the fact that there are people out there like me can certainly not hurt the situation.