* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Country music legend rushed to hospital year after heart surgery. Here’s what we know – PennLive.com

    Country Music Legend Rushed to Hospital One Year After Heart Surgery – What’s Happening Now?

    Strictly Come Dancing results: Chris Robshaw is eliminated while drag queen La Voix escapes dance-off – Yahoo

    Strictly Come Dancing results: Chris Robshaw is eliminated while drag queen La Voix escapes dance-off – Yahoo

    Placer County town of Loomis considers entertainment zone for downtown – CBS News

    Loomis Unveils Thrilling New Entertainment Zone to Revitalize Downtown

    CT Culture Corner: Robert Redford films to watch – CT Insider

    CT Culture Corner: Robert Redford films to watch – CT Insider

    Elmira’s New Entertainment Venue ‘Centertown Social’ Adding its Final Touches – WENY News

    Elmira’s New Entertainment Venue ‘Centertown Social’ Adding its Final Touches – WENY News

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in Crop Top – Yahoo

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in a Chic Crop Top

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

    3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

    3 Technology Stocks to Buy Now – Yahoo Finance

    3 Must-Buy Tech Stocks You Can’t Afford to Miss Right Now

    ‘New frontier’: Austin leaders start discussions on air taxi technology – KXAN Austin

    Austin Leaders Ignite Exciting Conversations on the Future of Air Taxi Technology

    How a Gemma model helped discover a new potential cancer therapy pathway – blog.google

    How a Gemma Model Revealed a Breakthrough Pathway for Cancer Treatment

    Italian Technology in Manufacturing: Supporting North American Industries and Keeping Production Local – Thomasnet

    How Italian Technology is Revolutionizing North American Manufacturing and Boosting Local Production

    Guide to Proteomics Project Planning: Sample Preparation Strategies – Technology Networks

    Guide to Proteomics Project Planning: Sample Preparation Strategies – Technology Networks

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Country music legend rushed to hospital year after heart surgery. Here’s what we know – PennLive.com

    Country Music Legend Rushed to Hospital One Year After Heart Surgery – What’s Happening Now?

    Strictly Come Dancing results: Chris Robshaw is eliminated while drag queen La Voix escapes dance-off – Yahoo

    Strictly Come Dancing results: Chris Robshaw is eliminated while drag queen La Voix escapes dance-off – Yahoo

    Placer County town of Loomis considers entertainment zone for downtown – CBS News

    Loomis Unveils Thrilling New Entertainment Zone to Revitalize Downtown

    CT Culture Corner: Robert Redford films to watch – CT Insider

    CT Culture Corner: Robert Redford films to watch – CT Insider

    Elmira’s New Entertainment Venue ‘Centertown Social’ Adding its Final Touches – WENY News

    Elmira’s New Entertainment Venue ‘Centertown Social’ Adding its Final Touches – WENY News

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in Crop Top – Yahoo

    Bella Thorne Shows Off Her Toned Abs in a Chic Crop Top

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

    3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

    3 Technology Stocks to Buy Now – Yahoo Finance

    3 Must-Buy Tech Stocks You Can’t Afford to Miss Right Now

    ‘New frontier’: Austin leaders start discussions on air taxi technology – KXAN Austin

    Austin Leaders Ignite Exciting Conversations on the Future of Air Taxi Technology

    How a Gemma model helped discover a new potential cancer therapy pathway – blog.google

    How a Gemma Model Revealed a Breakthrough Pathway for Cancer Treatment

    Italian Technology in Manufacturing: Supporting North American Industries and Keeping Production Local – Thomasnet

    How Italian Technology is Revolutionizing North American Manufacturing and Boosting Local Production

    Guide to Proteomics Project Planning: Sample Preparation Strategies – Technology Networks

    Guide to Proteomics Project Planning: Sample Preparation Strategies – Technology Networks

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Can We Become a Country of “Joiners”?

April 26, 2024
in News
Can We Become a Country of “Joiners”?
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

At the turn of the century, the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam published Bowling Alone, a data-heavy book about the collapse of civic participation in the United States—exemplified by the decline of participation in bowling leagues—and its baleful consequences for American democracy. Now, nearly a quarter-century after the publication of Putnam’s landmark book, and with many of the trends he identified showing no signs of abating, I spoke to Rebecca and Pete Davis, co-directors of Join or Die, a new documentary on Putnam’s life and work, which argues that the fate of democracy hinges on our becoming a country of “joiners” once again.

How did you become interested in Putnam’s work?

PETE DAVIS: I’m a former student of Bob’s and took his Community in America class. Most of the political science classes I was taking at the time focused on centralized power: We learned about the president, Congress, various legislative models, national elections, constitutions, international diplomacy—the political world seen from the top down. What was so special about Bob’s class was that he called us to pay attention to something very different: ordinary neighborhood connections, associations, and movements—the political world seen from the ground up.

Meanwhile, as a news producer at NBC, my sister Rebecca was reporting on many symptoms of the civic decline Bob documented in Bowling Alone—from school shootings and veteran suicides to the housing crisis and towns being ripped apart by political polarization. And she was feeling called to tell a larger story that struck at the root of these symptoms.

Why is the formation of local clubs and civic associations so central to the story of American democracy?

REBECCA DAVIS: Behind the popular stories of individual heroes, revolutionary moments, and sweeping trends, you can always find associations. The movements we celebrate—abolition, civil rights, suffrage, gay rights, even the American independence movement itself—were constituted of various associations, clubs, unions, congregations, leagues, assemblies, congresses, and conventions where ordinary Americans met routinely. Many major technical innovations started in hobbyist and cooperative associations. Mutual aid societies and congregations are part of the story of every immigration wave in American history.

We also talk about how clubs are the place where people learn civic skills. It’s associations where we practice how to run a meeting, give a speech, plan an event, organize a protest, resolve tensions, recruit collaborators, spread ideas, build bridges, and gather and wield power.

There have been many explanations for the broad atomizing trends Putnam observed in Bowling Alone. Which do you find most convincing?

PETE DAVIS: There is not one clear answer. However, in Bowling Alone, Bob found two interesting clues. First, he found a good amount of evidence that the popularization of television was a significant factor—the timing lines up, and there are many studies hinting that watching television replaced social and civic activity in our weekly schedules. (You can imagine how this might translate to other screens we’re spending time in front of more recently!) More profoundly, Bob found really strong evidence that the civic decline was generational. The same people who were civic 50 years ago in their thirties are still civic today in their eighties—it’s their kids who are less civic than their parents, and their kids’ kids are, in turn, even less civic than they are. So something must have gone on in the generational transfer of civic habits.

However, both we and Bob think these are just hints—and that there is a much bigger story than “television and ‘kids these days’ killed civic life.” The best metaphor for what I think happened is the idea of an “unraveling,” where one trend fed another trend which fed another trend, and you wake up 50 years later and the fabric is gone.

How has the rise of social media and digital life more broadly affected the developments Putnam observed in the book? Have things gotten more bleak?

REBECCA DAVIS: Bowling Alone came out in 2000, years before the rise of smartphones and social media, so at the time Bob could only speculate on their effect. But that does tell us that it’s not the case that things like iPhones and Facebook caused the decline. Rather, the question is: Did they exacerbate the decline, and, interestingly, did the fact that these technologies were designed during an age of civic decline affect how they were designed? And in turn: What would more pro-social and pro-civic technology look like?

What are things politicians and legislators can do to help make the United States into a country of “joiners” again?

PETE DAVIS: They can promote economic policies that give Americans the time and space to participate in community life—for example, fair scheduling laws that push back against chaotic work schedules; leave policies that create time for care work; and shortened workweeks and increased holidays (with no loss in pay) that create more time for communal activities.

I also think politicians can help redirect some of our attention and energy away from the palace intrigue of Washington politics and toward civic work in our own neighborhoods. We have been inspired by Senator Chris Murphy’s efforts to call attention to our loneliness crisis. Politicians ask us to vote every four years, but we need more encouragement to perform another, perhaps more significant, four-letter action for our democracy: Join!

That’s why this year we are taking the film on a community tour across the country—our Join Up! Tour 2024. Until it opens in theaters on July 19, the only way to see the film for now is, appropriately, together—by hosting a community screening, which you can book at Host.JoinOrDie.Film.

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : New Republic – https://newrepublic.com/article/180516/robert-putnam-documentary-country-joiners

Tags: BecomeCountrynews
Previous Post

Challengers Is a Brutal Game of Desire

Next Post

The Tech Baron Seeking to “Ethnically Cleanse” San Francisco

Some States With Democratic Governors Are Posting Partisan Shutdown Messages on Official Websites – The New York Times

Certain States Led by Democratic Governors Display Partisan Shutdown Messages on Official Websites

October 21, 2025
Revisiting Pope Francis’ Call for ‘Ecological Conversion’ – Sojourners

Pope Francis’ Powerful Appeal for a Global Ecological Awakening

October 21, 2025
PJSB donates $50,000 for UACCM Nursing and Science Center – KVOM

PJSB donates $50,000 for UACCM Nursing and Science Center – KVOM

October 21, 2025
An update from Riane Eisler, author of “The Chalice and the Blade,” on achieving peace. – Psychology Today

An update from Riane Eisler, author of “The Chalice and the Blade,” on achieving peace. – Psychology Today

October 21, 2025
We live in a sailboat and travel the world full-time… but our lifestyle isn’t as glamorous as you’d think – Daily Mail

Living Full-Time on a Sailboat and Traveling the World: The Reality Behind the Glamour

October 21, 2025
3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

3 E Network Technology Group Limited Closes $1.5 Million Convertible Promissory Note Offering – Quiver Quantitative

October 21, 2025
This Week in Navy Sports Presented by Navy Federal Credit Union – Naval Academy Athletics

Thrilling Moments from This Week in Navy Sports

October 21, 2025
New Land Cruiser “FJ” Makes World Premiere – トヨタ自動車株式会社 公式企業サイト

Unveiling the All-New Land Cruiser “FJ”: A Bold and Exciting World Premiere

October 20, 2025
World economy resilient but underwhelming, says IMF chief – African Business

Global Economy Proves Resilient Yet Growth Falls Short, Warns IMF Chief

October 20, 2025
Country music legend rushed to hospital year after heart surgery. Here’s what we know – PennLive.com

Country Music Legend Rushed to Hospital One Year After Heart Surgery – What’s Happening Now?

October 20, 2025

Categories

Archives

October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (878)
  • Economy (899)
  • Entertainment (21,770)
  • General (17,714)
  • Health (9,940)
  • Lifestyle (912)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (900)
  • Politics (910)
  • Science (16,110)
  • Sports (21,399)
  • Technology (15,879)
  • World (882)

Recent News

Some States With Democratic Governors Are Posting Partisan Shutdown Messages on Official Websites – The New York Times

Certain States Led by Democratic Governors Display Partisan Shutdown Messages on Official Websites

October 21, 2025
Revisiting Pope Francis’ Call for ‘Ecological Conversion’ – Sojourners

Pope Francis’ Powerful Appeal for a Global Ecological Awakening

October 21, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version