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Bowling Alone
Summary Robert Putnam's basic thesis is that there is a decline in civic engagement in urban cities.
He goes on to explore different probable factors that are causing the decline in civic engagement.
First off, he dichotomizes civic engagement into two categories: machers and schmoozers. Machers
and schmoozers are people who engage in formal kinds of civic engagement (following politics) and
informal kinds of civic engagement (hanging out with friends) respectively. Civic engagement,
overall, is on the decline according to Putnam (informal activities in particular, however, are ones
that Americans, on average engage in more often). This decline applies to cities because of certain
urban characteristics. The city, because of our...show more content...
This relates to Putnam because he theorizes that mobility and sprawl of people can contribute to
social capital's decline. However, people that are a minority (not stereotypically middle–class and
white) may choose to stay within where they feel they belong. In fact, civic disengagement is
liable to happen not only by moving too much, but by its exact opposite, by staying at a place
way too long. It seems that any extreme of mobility or remaining can have both detrimental
effects to social capital. Also, there was mention of two people of two different races, where a
white person donated a kidney to a black person in Putnam's book. Residential segregation could
conceivably have not made such an intimate connection between two races possible and so Putnam
may need to consider the various reasons people stay with their own kind aside from a patriotic
feeling so that he can come up with solutions to our waning civic engagement. Evidence Assessment
Is there social capital present from an urban life? In some instances, it is present and absent in
others, so what is the so–called "big picture" regarding whether or not it is present or absent overall?
For evidence of the increasing presence of social capital, I will use as evidence my own personal
experiences and observations. From my experience, city life can only alienate you if you let it.
Putnam may be quick to blame electronic media for giving us excuses to decline social capital, or he
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Descriptive Essay On Bowling
Bowling is one of my favorite things to do every Saturday morning in a league . In the first few
weeks I was bowling in a consistent way which means that you do the same every time. The weeks
we do not bowl on are Holiday weekends because they want us to spend time with our family like on
the Christmas, Easter, and etcetera holiday weekends. Bowling every saturday in Utica gives me
something to do so i'm not bored at home like always because I can barely do anything on the
weekend except for hangout with my friends after. We are halfway in the season already and we
started the week after school started, and it's going by fast and i've been bowling good it's a success
so far. My team has been holding up the past weeks and i'm surprised about it.
My bowling style that I use when I bowl and what I do. I aim for the second arrow on the right
like the pro bowlers. Some directions to hook, number one the pro bowlers look at the second
arrow and aim for it and don't look at the pins. Number two they follow through and look at the
wrist to see if they can improve and not get another mistake, and that's all I can think of. Some pro
bowlers are Belmo(Jason Belmonte), Pete Weber, Wes Malott, and Norm Duke. Jason Belmonte is
the only two hand bowler out of the ones I just mentioned. My team finished 4th place in the first
half of the season and that's pretty good, and I got a medal for one of the top ten bowlers in my
league, and top ten scorers with my highest game in leagues
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Still Bowling Alone
I scored a 5 on the quiz which placed me right around civil activist. I was very intrigued by the
articles, "Bowling Alone" and "Still bowling alone: The Post 9/11 Split" which discussed how the
degree engagement in civil activities in the United States has greatly decreased (Putnam, 1995).
After reading those articles and reflecting upon my score, I realized how although I engage in civil
activities to a degree, I am not as active as I should be. I think that the points Putnam touch upon
make a lot of sense and are in my opinion reflective of the changes in society that have occurred
over the years such as dependence on technology and the common mindset that we should only
worry about ourselves and things that affect us and our lives. I believe...show more content...
When discussing why societies are better with deep social capital, Putnam writes "dense networks
of interaction probably broaden the participants' sense of self, developing the "I" into the "we"
(Putnam, 1995, pp. 2–3). To me, this means that when people are not concerned with only
themselves but also with others, things like peace building and community involvement occur.
In terms of peace building, if social capital was dense and I had a high social capital level, when
something intrigued me and drove me to advocate for peace such as ending violence, it wouldn't
be a fight that I was starting alone but instead the "we" would help fight this battle. For me, this
means that if I really want to make a difference in this world, I need to be more involved and
increase my social capital. By doing so, I can impact others to do the same and the chances of
building peace as a community would be greater. Furthermore, the piece in the article where he
ties the whole concept of social capital and its decline to bowling really hit home for me. When it
is put in perspective in such a way that Putnam did to describe how even bowling has decreased
in profits because people prefer now to bowl alone rather than a s a group or in a league, it really
forced one to reflect upon their own involvement. (Putnam, 2010). If as a society and even myself
we continue to not fully engage with others but rather masked by technology and our own life
circumstances, peace will never be built. As someone who believes in social justice, I know that
peace is something I want to help build and thus need to change my social capital
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Bowling Alone Book Review
In conclusion, religious participation has influenced key aspects in Americans and has suffered
from the numbers of Americans losing influence of participating. Putnam's book gives a major
insight on how Americans hold the power to raise and lower rates of religious participation. The
ability to give readers an insight on Americans power is a key reason as to why I would recommend
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community to others.
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Bowling Alone Summary
Throughout the readings "Bowling Alone", "Alone Together", and "Still Bowling Alone", the
three authors all have their points to get across involving technologies in our societies. They're all
quite common, as in they all seem to want us to be weary of how close we get to technology, as it's
drifting us away from our friends and family, but also from our civic and social lives, as "Bowling
Alone" speaks heavily about. Technology can be a positive aspect of life, but when you look at it
from these authors' perspectives, you can possibly see it as a negative. In "Bowling Alone", Robert
Putnam speaks primarily of America's declining activity in civil society and social meetings. His
arguments are backed with facts in statistics– he often lists membership levels in different
organizations, and how they've declined in a number of years by (typically) a drastic percentage.
One example in the civic society portion that stood out to me was actually quite short and minor.
Putnam wrote that "the portion of who reply that they "trust the government in Washington" only
"some of the time" or "almost never" has risen steadily from 30 percent in 1966 to 75 percent in
1992."(Putnam, Robert D. "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital." Journal of
Democracy, Jan. 1995, pp. 65–78.) This was a distinct moment in the article for me because in our
society today, I feel as though this percentage has probably increased in our country, especially
amongst the younger generation who has
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Summary Of Bowling Alone
The civil society of The United States has changed a lot throughout the course history, especially
after WWII. The Western democracies and mostly The US have been taken as a model, especially to
the post–communists countries, that emphasize the importance of a strong civil engagement to the
consolidation of democracy. However, as discussed by Robert D. Putnam the American social
engagement/ social capital has drastically declined during the twentieth century.
In 'Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital', Putnam discusses the link between
democracy and civil society, emphasizes social connectedness and civic engagement. and over all
the decline of civic engagement in America, during years following WWII. He argues that when
social capital is high, such results are produced: "better schools, faster economic development, lower
crime rate, and more effective government"(2) and a stronger democracy. Using data from a variety
of sources, Putnam finds that the norms, social trust and networks of social connections that exist
between people, which cooperate for common benefits, or 'social capital' as he says, have declined in
areas such as participating in local/state/national elections, organizational membership,
church–related groups, union membership, participation in PTA, the membership in volunteering for
civil and Fraternity organizations, and so on. A decline during the last half of the twentieth century
has also occurred in the connections with friends, family, and
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Descriptive Essay On Bowling
It was dark and rainy outside, we were just in for a good time, yet we had no idea what was in for
the future ahead of us. Myself and a few other friends were at the bowling alley in Glenwood
Iowa, for no specific reason, just to have a good time with each other. It was the middle of summer
and who knew this was going to be one of the scariest nights of our lives.
"It's your turn to bowl!" Alyx exclaimed to me. Everytime I go up to bowl I wait for the same ball to
come out of the ball shoot every single time, it's bright red and only has 3 little holes for my fingers
to go into. As I went up to bowl, I grabbed my lucky ball and rolled it down the path like a slippery
snake, STRIKE! Right after I had gotten my strike, the bowling alley got a telephone call saying
there was a shooting nearby in town. Everyone got a little panicked, but we continued with our
fun night of bowling. Kamryn, Kennedy and Tommy all bowled and got their scores. It was
starting to get darker outside when all of a sudden we heard gunshots outside of the building, just
as loud as when you hear an airplane taking off. The gunshots were one right after another, 4 in a
row. *boom boom boom boom* they went in the air. Everyone went to look outside and all of a
sudden a dark shadow wearing all black clothes was starting to walk up to the door, it was still
about 100 feet away, but it was getting closer, and fast. "Get into the bathroom, now!" The manager
of the bowling alley told us with spark in his
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Bowling Alone Summary
Social connections, civic engagement and civic trust influence our life dramatically. In Robert D.
Putnam's article, "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital," his begins with the
argument that America's social capital is declining and the strength of American societies have
weakened. To support his claim, he analyzes multiple reasons for the decline such as, the
movement of women into the labor force, the mobility of individuals and the constant improvement
of technology. According to Putnam, "social capital refers to features of social organization such
as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit"
(384). In simpler terms, social capital is a combination of civic engagement and civic trust. If a
society has an abundance of social capital it will produce positive results and successful outcomes.
Such results include "better schools, faster economic development, lower crime, and more effective
government" (383). These results can significantly improve America's social capital. Putnam
believes that the revolution of bringing women into the workforce has slowed down the production
of social capital. According to the article, "It seems highly plausible that this social revolution
should have reduced the time and energy available for building social capital" (393). I do not agree
that women stepping into the workforce would slow down the production of social capital, In fact, I
believe women would increase civic
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Bowling Alone Essay

  • 1. Bowling Alone Summary Robert Putnam's basic thesis is that there is a decline in civic engagement in urban cities. He goes on to explore different probable factors that are causing the decline in civic engagement. First off, he dichotomizes civic engagement into two categories: machers and schmoozers. Machers and schmoozers are people who engage in formal kinds of civic engagement (following politics) and informal kinds of civic engagement (hanging out with friends) respectively. Civic engagement, overall, is on the decline according to Putnam (informal activities in particular, however, are ones that Americans, on average engage in more often). This decline applies to cities because of certain urban characteristics. The city, because of our...show more content... This relates to Putnam because he theorizes that mobility and sprawl of people can contribute to social capital's decline. However, people that are a minority (not stereotypically middle–class and white) may choose to stay within where they feel they belong. In fact, civic disengagement is liable to happen not only by moving too much, but by its exact opposite, by staying at a place way too long. It seems that any extreme of mobility or remaining can have both detrimental effects to social capital. Also, there was mention of two people of two different races, where a white person donated a kidney to a black person in Putnam's book. Residential segregation could conceivably have not made such an intimate connection between two races possible and so Putnam may need to consider the various reasons people stay with their own kind aside from a patriotic feeling so that he can come up with solutions to our waning civic engagement. Evidence Assessment Is there social capital present from an urban life? In some instances, it is present and absent in others, so what is the so–called "big picture" regarding whether or not it is present or absent overall? For evidence of the increasing presence of social capital, I will use as evidence my own personal experiences and observations. From my experience, city life can only alienate you if you let it. Putnam may be quick to blame electronic media for giving us excuses to decline social capital, or he Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 2. Descriptive Essay On Bowling Bowling is one of my favorite things to do every Saturday morning in a league . In the first few weeks I was bowling in a consistent way which means that you do the same every time. The weeks we do not bowl on are Holiday weekends because they want us to spend time with our family like on the Christmas, Easter, and etcetera holiday weekends. Bowling every saturday in Utica gives me something to do so i'm not bored at home like always because I can barely do anything on the weekend except for hangout with my friends after. We are halfway in the season already and we started the week after school started, and it's going by fast and i've been bowling good it's a success so far. My team has been holding up the past weeks and i'm surprised about it. My bowling style that I use when I bowl and what I do. I aim for the second arrow on the right like the pro bowlers. Some directions to hook, number one the pro bowlers look at the second arrow and aim for it and don't look at the pins. Number two they follow through and look at the wrist to see if they can improve and not get another mistake, and that's all I can think of. Some pro bowlers are Belmo(Jason Belmonte), Pete Weber, Wes Malott, and Norm Duke. Jason Belmonte is the only two hand bowler out of the ones I just mentioned. My team finished 4th place in the first half of the season and that's pretty good, and I got a medal for one of the top ten bowlers in my league, and top ten scorers with my highest game in leagues Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 3. Still Bowling Alone I scored a 5 on the quiz which placed me right around civil activist. I was very intrigued by the articles, "Bowling Alone" and "Still bowling alone: The Post 9/11 Split" which discussed how the degree engagement in civil activities in the United States has greatly decreased (Putnam, 1995). After reading those articles and reflecting upon my score, I realized how although I engage in civil activities to a degree, I am not as active as I should be. I think that the points Putnam touch upon make a lot of sense and are in my opinion reflective of the changes in society that have occurred over the years such as dependence on technology and the common mindset that we should only worry about ourselves and things that affect us and our lives. I believe...show more content... When discussing why societies are better with deep social capital, Putnam writes "dense networks of interaction probably broaden the participants' sense of self, developing the "I" into the "we" (Putnam, 1995, pp. 2–3). To me, this means that when people are not concerned with only themselves but also with others, things like peace building and community involvement occur. In terms of peace building, if social capital was dense and I had a high social capital level, when something intrigued me and drove me to advocate for peace such as ending violence, it wouldn't be a fight that I was starting alone but instead the "we" would help fight this battle. For me, this means that if I really want to make a difference in this world, I need to be more involved and increase my social capital. By doing so, I can impact others to do the same and the chances of building peace as a community would be greater. Furthermore, the piece in the article where he ties the whole concept of social capital and its decline to bowling really hit home for me. When it is put in perspective in such a way that Putnam did to describe how even bowling has decreased in profits because people prefer now to bowl alone rather than a s a group or in a league, it really forced one to reflect upon their own involvement. (Putnam, 2010). If as a society and even myself we continue to not fully engage with others but rather masked by technology and our own life circumstances, peace will never be built. As someone who believes in social justice, I know that peace is something I want to help build and thus need to change my social capital Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 4. Bowling Alone Book Review In conclusion, religious participation has influenced key aspects in Americans and has suffered from the numbers of Americans losing influence of participating. Putnam's book gives a major insight on how Americans hold the power to raise and lower rates of religious participation. The ability to give readers an insight on Americans power is a key reason as to why I would recommend Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community to others. Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 5. Bowling Alone Summary Throughout the readings "Bowling Alone", "Alone Together", and "Still Bowling Alone", the three authors all have their points to get across involving technologies in our societies. They're all quite common, as in they all seem to want us to be weary of how close we get to technology, as it's drifting us away from our friends and family, but also from our civic and social lives, as "Bowling Alone" speaks heavily about. Technology can be a positive aspect of life, but when you look at it from these authors' perspectives, you can possibly see it as a negative. In "Bowling Alone", Robert Putnam speaks primarily of America's declining activity in civil society and social meetings. His arguments are backed with facts in statistics– he often lists membership levels in different organizations, and how they've declined in a number of years by (typically) a drastic percentage. One example in the civic society portion that stood out to me was actually quite short and minor. Putnam wrote that "the portion of who reply that they "trust the government in Washington" only "some of the time" or "almost never" has risen steadily from 30 percent in 1966 to 75 percent in 1992."(Putnam, Robert D. "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital." Journal of Democracy, Jan. 1995, pp. 65–78.) This was a distinct moment in the article for me because in our society today, I feel as though this percentage has probably increased in our country, especially amongst the younger generation who has Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 6. Summary Of Bowling Alone The civil society of The United States has changed a lot throughout the course history, especially after WWII. The Western democracies and mostly The US have been taken as a model, especially to the post–communists countries, that emphasize the importance of a strong civil engagement to the consolidation of democracy. However, as discussed by Robert D. Putnam the American social engagement/ social capital has drastically declined during the twentieth century. In 'Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital', Putnam discusses the link between democracy and civil society, emphasizes social connectedness and civic engagement. and over all the decline of civic engagement in America, during years following WWII. He argues that when social capital is high, such results are produced: "better schools, faster economic development, lower crime rate, and more effective government"(2) and a stronger democracy. Using data from a variety of sources, Putnam finds that the norms, social trust and networks of social connections that exist between people, which cooperate for common benefits, or 'social capital' as he says, have declined in areas such as participating in local/state/national elections, organizational membership, church–related groups, union membership, participation in PTA, the membership in volunteering for civil and Fraternity organizations, and so on. A decline during the last half of the twentieth century has also occurred in the connections with friends, family, and Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 7. Descriptive Essay On Bowling It was dark and rainy outside, we were just in for a good time, yet we had no idea what was in for the future ahead of us. Myself and a few other friends were at the bowling alley in Glenwood Iowa, for no specific reason, just to have a good time with each other. It was the middle of summer and who knew this was going to be one of the scariest nights of our lives. "It's your turn to bowl!" Alyx exclaimed to me. Everytime I go up to bowl I wait for the same ball to come out of the ball shoot every single time, it's bright red and only has 3 little holes for my fingers to go into. As I went up to bowl, I grabbed my lucky ball and rolled it down the path like a slippery snake, STRIKE! Right after I had gotten my strike, the bowling alley got a telephone call saying there was a shooting nearby in town. Everyone got a little panicked, but we continued with our fun night of bowling. Kamryn, Kennedy and Tommy all bowled and got their scores. It was starting to get darker outside when all of a sudden we heard gunshots outside of the building, just as loud as when you hear an airplane taking off. The gunshots were one right after another, 4 in a row. *boom boom boom boom* they went in the air. Everyone went to look outside and all of a sudden a dark shadow wearing all black clothes was starting to walk up to the door, it was still about 100 feet away, but it was getting closer, and fast. "Get into the bathroom, now!" The manager of the bowling alley told us with spark in his Get more content on HelpWriting.net
  • 8. Bowling Alone Summary Social connections, civic engagement and civic trust influence our life dramatically. In Robert D. Putnam's article, "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital," his begins with the argument that America's social capital is declining and the strength of American societies have weakened. To support his claim, he analyzes multiple reasons for the decline such as, the movement of women into the labor force, the mobility of individuals and the constant improvement of technology. According to Putnam, "social capital refers to features of social organization such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit" (384). In simpler terms, social capital is a combination of civic engagement and civic trust. If a society has an abundance of social capital it will produce positive results and successful outcomes. Such results include "better schools, faster economic development, lower crime, and more effective government" (383). These results can significantly improve America's social capital. Putnam believes that the revolution of bringing women into the workforce has slowed down the production of social capital. According to the article, "It seems highly plausible that this social revolution should have reduced the time and energy available for building social capital" (393). I do not agree that women stepping into the workforce would slow down the production of social capital, In fact, I believe women would increase civic Get more content on HelpWriting.net