Great interview on [url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2011/3198208.htm]Radio National’s National Interest[/url] with Professor Robert Putnam of Harvard University on social capital. He is the author of “Bowling Alone: the collapse and revival of American community”.
Social capital is the social networks and connections we have.
The thesis of ‘Bowling Alon’ is that social capital has collapsed with a dramatic decline in the last 30 years beginning in the late 1960s.
Factors that led to the decline:
[ul]The introduction of television in the 1960s
Two career families with women working out of the home
Suburbanisation leading to longer commuting times[/ul]
People born and raised before the introduction of television led quite remarkably different lives connected at every stage in their lives and unbelievably socially involved. Every genertion since then has started life a little less civic-minded than its predecessor.
Virtual communities and organisations don’t work in the same way that ones where people meet each other do.
The best value of modern technology is to use networks to create real contact where people meet each other.
Every 10 minutes more commuting time means 10% less community/ family time.
Social capital is typified by people being ‘joiners’.
Your life expectancy is greatly influenced by your social capital joining knowing neighbours social connection. Social isolation is as great a risk of premature death as smoking.
The secret of American democracy was that Americans were always joining connecting.
The places in the world with the strongest states have the most social capital and the places with the most social capital have the strongest states. He is not saying it is cause and effect.
Bonding social capital = my ties with people LIKE me
Bridging social capital = my ties with people UNLIKE me
Social capital can have bad aspects such as bonding social capital among upper classes which is very exclusive and involves doing deals behind closed doors.
It is important that our government planners take care not to damage social capital. Demolishing ‘slums’ pushing freeways through areas moving people. These destroy great slabs of social capital. We need to ask what social damage might this do.
I thought this an excellent talk with great applicability to building a strong resilient local community here in The Grove.