Robert Putnam published “Bowling Alone” in the Journal of Democracy, vol. 6, no. 1, January 1995. By September 25 of the same year, he was in People Magazine (smoking a pipe, standing alone in bowling shoes on a New Hampshire bowling alley). “We’ve become disconnected,” he said in the article, and “I think it’s at […]
How will the current pandemic affect civic engagement? We certainly cannot know, but I would offer the following hypotheses: People’s voluntary behaviors, values, and preferences will not change very much. If you can, you will snap back to pre-COVID habits and beliefs as soon as possible. However, the economic turmoil caused by the shutdown will […]
In 1997, the National Commission on Civic Renewal published its report, A Nation of Spectators: How Civic Disengagement Weakens America and What We Can Do About It. The Commission was partly a response to Robert Putnam’s 1995 article, “Bowling Alone.” The Pew Charitable Trust funded and convened it, and Bill Galston directed it, with me […]
Fall 19 Civic Studies 0020-01 Intro to Civic Studies Instructors: Peter Levine, Brian Schaffner. TA: Gene Corbin Sept 4: Introduction Introduction to the course and the instructors. In class exercise: “The “Christmas Tree Crisis” at Sea-?Tac Airport” (handout in class) Sept 9: Problems of collective action Timothy Burke, “How to read in college (Links to an […]
The Summer Institute of Civic Studies is an intensive interdisciplinary seminar that brings together faculty, advanced graduate students, and practitioners from many countries and diverse fields of study. In 2019 it will take place from the evening of June 20 until June 28 at Tufts University in Medford, MA, and Boston. The Summer Institute was founded and […]