Social Capital

Return to Societal Challenges

"Bowling Alone", a 2000 nonfiction book by Robert D. Putnam, surveys the decline of social capital in the United States since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives. He argues that this undermines the active civil engagement which a strong democracy requires from its citizens.