Bowling Alone
| Author | Robert D. Putnam |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Social science |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | 2000 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 544 |
| ISBN | 978-0-7432-0304-3 |
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community is a 2000 nonfiction book by Robert D. Putnam. It was developed from his 1995 essay entitled "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital" in the Journal of Democracy. Putnam surveys the decline of social capital in the United States since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives. He argues that this undermines the active civic engagement which a strong democracy requires from its citizens.