Americans are bowling alone and they're not very nice about it

Harvard's Robert Putnam chose that metaphor for the title of his article, "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital," which appeared in the January 1995 Journal of Democracy. One finding in his assessment of the state of civil society was really just a grace note: more Americans were visiting bowling alleys than ever before, 10 percent more in fact, between 1980 and 1993.

Bowling, after all, is an American cultural tradition; TV icons Ralph Kramden in the 1950s, Archie Bunker in the 1960s, and Laverne and Shirley in the 1970s took solace in a night out with friends and colleagues, creating in the wake of the ball a social engagement that translated in its way to both a personal well-being and a communal identity.

But Putnam found that Americans between those years were literally bowling alone; players in leagues had declined by a whopping 40 percent. Rosters at churches, labor unions, the PTA, traditional women's clubs and fraternal organizations, Red Cross and Boy Scouts alike were diminishing in record numbers. Neighbors who visited one another and family members who gathered to share the supper hour were the exceptions and not the rule. Putnam's article and a subsequent book published in 2000 became standard references for students of sociology, public affairs, philanthropy, political science and other disciplines assessing the nature of civic well-being. 

What was transpiring in these declining statistics of affiliation was a loss of the skills and values that sustain democratic citizenship, Putnam speculated, survival motions that Alexis de Tocqueville had called "the habits of the heart." 

The year after Putnam's journal article was published, 48 prominent intellectuals, journalists, historians and sociologists were called to the University of Pennsylvania to discuss "the explosion of incivility" in American society. The Penn National Commission on Society, Culture and Community met for the next three years to discuss the "rising tide of rudeness, meanness and ill will" that a number of observers  hypothesized was blocking social reform. Included as committee members were former Indianapolis Mayor Bill Hudnut, author E.L. Doctorow, former Sen. Bill Bradley and humorist Calvin Trillin. Among the committee's findings?

"Incivility and coarseness are a continuation of behaviors that have always been with us," the committee conceded. "However, these behaviors are greatly amplified by the new economic dynamics of mass markets, by the new technologies of mass communication and by laissez-faire governmental policies."

Last week, a Pew Charitable Trust-sponsored survey confirmed what most of us already suspected: collectively, we have become a very rude bunch, and the rudest among us are...customer service providers. Some 79 percent of respondents said that a lack of respect and courtesy in American society is a serious problem; 61 percent said that the situation has gotten worse in recent years.

So the question becomes: do we lack personal regard because we've become more isolated, clacking away on keyboards and bowling alone at our computers, or have we become isolated because we have lost our ability to be affable? My voice mail, for instance, may have a close, personal relationship with your voice mail, but chances are we won't recognize each other in the elevator.

The venerable Henry H.H.Remak is not much of a fan of electronic communication, although he was a prime mover in creating a course this semester that connects young Berliners with young Hoosiers in synchronous instruction made possible by IU's Abilene connection to Internet2. The class, meeting in a virtual classroom on two sides of the Atlantic, has been contemplating the elements of a civil society, with much discussion about respective forefathers, the incivilities and missteps that cause world wars and the horrific consequences that filter down to blameless generations.

Remak complained recently about a colleague who passed his office door. Two minutes later, an E-mail from that very colleague popped up on his screen. Why hadn't he poked his head in the door with the message, Remak wanted to know. Well, we both knew the answer, E-mail is efficient, it's facile, presumes accountability and, truly, a lot of workaday matters are quickly resolved.

But at what cost? 

Toqueville was a 19-century Frenchman who had a lot of faith in American resiliency. "Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations," he wrote. "In democratic countries, knowledge of how to combine is the mother of all other forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all the others." 

In today's story, "The sociology of basketball," read about a collaboration of three IU faculty members who believe that social capital can be gained in something as simple (and as complex) as a pick-up game of basketball. Anyone can play, everyone is invited.

But if you've forgotten your gym shoes today, please poke your head in the office door of a colleague you rarely see and say hello.

If you have any views or reflections on this subject, send your comments to: homepgs@indiana.edu

Responses will be published in our next online edition.

Read Robert Putnam's "Bowling Alone" article at this Journal of Democracy Web site:
http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/journal_of_democracy/v006/6.1putnam.html

Read a status report on rudeness in America. Compare yourself with the national sample by answering actual survey questions.
http://www.publicagenda.com/

For $4, download Are Your Employees Bowling Alone?: How to Build a Trusting Organization, by Douglas Smith, at Amazon.com. One caveat to the Dilbert aficionados, Smith co-authored Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High Performance Organization.