I am currently mid-way through Chapter 4 right now, and quite frankly I am not impressed with with this book. I am desperately hoping that this book presents something profound or captivating, because right now I am falling asleep every time I open the book.
As I read this book, I do get the feeling that this book is already outdated even though it was published 10 years ago. I was struck by the claim that voting rates were continuously falling, so I went to the U.S. Census bureau to see what the voting rates were within the past decade. In 2000, 54.75 of American's turned out to vote for the presidential election, in 2004, 58.3% voted, and in 2008 58.2% voted. These numbers rival the voting turnout of the early 1980's. (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/historical/index.html)
Recent political movements such as the Tea Party have also mobilized many American's to participate in political discourse. I see so many organizations and social groups around me I have a hard time believing that my perspective of American culture is so unique that it is an exception to the rule - as this book is clearly trying to tell me.
Let's hope this gets better....
It is interesting that now a days a ten year old book could be so quickly outdated. I wonder what other statistics are not as high as the "good old days", I think it is great to question statistics. It is surprising what you learn.
ReplyDeleteKelly,
ReplyDeleteI hear your concern...I was very tempted to read this book, given its blurb, but then I looked at the publication date and thought I'd better choose a different book. I hope you can find those nuggets of eternal wisdom that have to be in there somewhere! If nothing else, your research into how things have changed will be as interesting!
Sandy
Hi Kelly,
ReplyDeleteI'm always interested to read your thoughts since I think we're the only two people reading this book. Yes, I think a lot about the decade since the book was published as well, wondering what statistics would show up to present day. My plan is to finish the book and then see if I can find Putnam's current thoughts and data on social capital. I do see he has a webpage but I haven't yet found just what I'm looking for in the "update to Bowling Alone" regard.
Even though it's a decade old though, I've enjoyed the historical aspect of it and how everything effects everything. It's like there's a piece of data and then another piece of data to throw off the first one! I'm also trying to grasp the concept of generational change where each individual stays the same but, as a generation, trends change. And, just considering the term "social capital" and participation has been interesting as we think about professional organizations back on our posts.
Anyway, I hope you start to enjoy the book more. Maybe there won't be any big revelations but at least some interesting tid-bits?! Or, maybe the big revelation is still to come...
Emily
I really appreciate your honesty with the reading. I was also impressed that you looked up the voting population because it seemed off.
ReplyDeleteI think this is exactly what we need to be doing; critically reading.
Hopefully it gets better.
Dawn