BURGER SCOOT

“Citizenship is not a spectator sport.” – Steve Miska

I was intrigued by an interview by the New York Times podcast The Daily of political sociologist Robert Putnam. I had never heard of the man before but I wanted to know more about his work when the interviewer and Putnam discussing his 2000 book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. You see, one of the reasons why I have this blog is because I need to fill the time up during a not-so-busy week. I do make half-ass attempts at community: I was and remain to this day a member of the Democratic Socialist of America and for a while attended local meetings; when I first got my scooter, I attended scooter rallies, runs, and meet and greets with two different scooter clubs. When I was working a couple of guys at my old job invited me to a monthly dinner and a movie night. And I joined the local chapter of the League of Women Voters in retirement. But for assorted reasons (some out of my control), I end up “bowling alone,” to use Putnam’s metaphor instead of regularly attending meetings for all of these associations.

I still desire to be part of a community. I may give the League of Women Voters another chance if the members will accept me back in—they must think I ghosted them. However, I have always ended up alone. Since my adolescence, I have never felt compelled to join and remain in a group.

My mother has been in bowling, bridge, and mahjong groups. She worked for the Assistance League and frequently participated in Sports Leisure Vacations outings. She gravitates to and has always felt comfortable in group/club settings. Why haven’t I, and why does this concern me now, as a 66-year-old? Putnam’s book concerned me about this reclusive personality trait and made me think about ways to address it.

Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone is a thorough and fascinating book but also depressing. Being a loner, I couldn’t help but feel convicted. But my monastic ways make Putnam’s point. What is intriguing is that in this book, Putnam brings receipts to show all his initial detractors: Graphs (over 100 of them). If the graphs’ subjects are positive, the trends are down; if the graphs’ subjects are negative, the trends are up. It’s a sobering read but fascinating all the same.

Putnam got the book’s title when he asked a friend who owns a bowling alley how business was. His friend told him that bowling was up, but bowling leagues were down, and that was hurting the industry because bowling alleys make the majority of their money from refreshment sales, and bowling teams buy refreshments en masse. I was immediately reminded of my mother taking my brother and me to her weekend morning bowling league and seeing the pitchers of Bloody Marys up and down the lanes.

Putnam doesn’t go so far as to claim that the rise of antisocial behavior directly results from the fall of associations and civil engagement. He’s not a psychologist. Still, I can’t help but think I wouldn’t be surprised if studies came out that correlated the fall of associations with the rise of domestic terrorism.

Putnam writes quite a bit about Alexis de Tocqueville, author of the seminal work on early American politics and life Democracy in America. Tocqueville had his criticisms about America, especially about American literature, but he was fascinated with its associations (clubs, lodges, etc.). They were a refreshing alternative to England’s and France’s monarch and ruling class:

In America I encountered sorts of associations of which, I confess, I had no idea, and I often admired the infinite art with which the inhabitants of the United States managed to fix a common goal to the efforts of many men and to get them to advance to it freely.

I have since traveled through England, from which the Americans took some of their laws and many of their usages, and it appeared to me that there they were very far from making as constant and as skilled a use of association.

When I finished Bowling Alone, I longed for the way our nation used to be and wished I wasn’t such a loner. I was about halfway through Putnam’s excellent work when–while tooling around YouTube I saw the trailer for Join or Die, a 2023 documentary by Pete and Rebecca Davis about Robert Putnam and his work featuring Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Pete Buttigieg, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., and some of the researchers who helped track down and put together the exhaustive facts behind Bowling Alone. Join or Die is now available to view on Netflix.