Video Games As A Form Of Social Capital

For much of my life, one of my past times is video games, I play them because I enjoy them and find them to be a relaxing escape from the stresses of everyday life. That is not the only reason I play video games however, I also play them to stay connected with friends and …

In My Life, Digital Communities Are Essential

When reading Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone, I was struck by how outdated it felt to me. Many of its core ideas are evergreen, from its concept of social capital to the decay of a traditional social and cultural fabric. But, all of these ideas were contextualized within the year 2000. I was born that year, …

How the Boy Scouts of America Emphasize Civic Engagement – Food for Thought

Why do we become civically engaged? What purpose do we serve in our own communities, and where does this purpose come from? These are some of the questions that are discussed in Robert Putnam's landmark bestseller Bowling Alone. On page 337, he uses a quote from Alexis de Tocqueville, which reads "it is difficult to …

The Mental Side Effects of Being Individualistic

Between the 1960's and now, Americans have become increasingly individualistic. Author Michael Hendrix in an article for National Review reports that "roughly 43 million adults over the age of 45 are estimated to suffer from chronic loneliness." This number has increased over the years, Hendrix writes - 40 percent of American adults say they are …

Bowling Alone, Together – An Editorial

Throughout the past few weeks, we have been discovering more and more reasons as to why there is a decline in social gatherings, community involvement, and overall civic engagement. Many of these particular reasons are discussed openly in this week's blog posts that our classmates have put together. Civic engagement is involved in a relationship …

Not-so-lonely bowling: civic engagement in the age of social media

Image source: American Leadership Forum "If the United States is to avoid becoming two nations, it must find ways to expand the post-9/11 resurgence of civic and social engagement beyond the ranks of affluent young white people."  So write Thomas Sander and Robert Putnam in their 2011 article "Still Bowling Alone? The Post-9/11 Split.” In …

Civic Engagement as Response to Crisis: Then and Now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3i3NC6hsgs CBS New York story about communities taking action amid the coronavirus pandemic The United States has struggled greatly with civic engagement over the years. While the 1960 Presidential Election saw a 62.8 percent voter turnout rate, this number slipped to 48.9 percent just 36 years later in 1996. But voting hasn't been the only …