Are We Still Bowling Alone? The State of Community in America

10:10 - 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Live Zoom Event | click title for Zoom link | all times listed CDT
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Thirty years ago, political scientist Robert Putnam warned of the decline of community in his classic article "Bowling Alone," which traced the falling participation of Americans in bowling leagues, civic organizations, and social clubs. The same year sociologist Robert Bellah warned of a similar decline of community in a lecture at Missouri State University.  While not everyone accepted their diagnoses, Putnam and Bellah helped launch a national conversation about community in America. Much has changed since these early conversations on social capital - cell phones, the internet - the rise of the "nones" (people with no religion).  Are our communities still in danger (if they ever were)? Thirty years later, are Americans still bowling alone?

Panel Host:  Dr. Lyndsey Strahan     Q&A Moderator:  Dr. John Schmalzbauer

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