Reasons to Teach Philanthropy
 Robert D. Putnam, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and public policy. He is the founder of The Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America. He has written numerous books including the best-selling Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000), and is widely considered the expert on the subject of social capital. |
What Caused our Civic Decline? Why has our civic infrastructure collapsed, bringing our civility down with it? A massive analysis by political scientist Robert Putnam demonstrates that the single most important cause of the decline in social capital is an irreversible demographic shift. Namely, an exceptionally civic generation of older Americans is slowing down and dying, and far less civic-minded generations of Baby Boomers and Baby Busters are taking their place. Other profound and durable social changes have only magnified the generational impact. Entertainment television, a veritable death ray for civic life, has become our primary source of relaxation, crowding out more sociable leisure-time activities. In a consumption-mad, booming economy, working professionals with civic leadership skills face increasing pressure to work long hours and weekends, forcing them to skip school meetings and family dinners. And the proliferation of suburbs and exurbs, with their car-focused culture and absence of community spaces, has distanced neighbor from neighbor, all but eliminating the sorts of casual interactions on which yesterday ’s small towns and urban neighborhoods thrived. (Putnam, Bowling Alone, Section III.) Excerpted from Section III of Better Together by |
