Wherrett Lecture Series Features Robert Putnam

09/30/2011

By Meredith Fahey

The GSPIA Center for Metropolitan Studies opened its 2011-2012 academic year Wherrett Lecture series on September 23, with guest lecturer Professor Robert Putnam from the Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy.  Dr. Putnam, most well-known for his highly acclaimed book, “Bowling Alone,” presented on two topics:  social capital and equality.

“Social networks are so important,” began Dr. Putnam. “They matter for your economic well-being, they matter for school, and they even matter for your life expectancy.”  Indeed, he went on to say, “social isolation is as big a factor in premature death as smoking.” 

What is the relationship between social capital and economic equality?  Most people would believe that economic equality leads to social capital or social cohesion but Dr. Putnam, with a lot of data, argues that social cohesion has an effect on economic equality. 

Looking at a time series graph of the United States from the 1960s onward, Dr. Putnam was able to show that social and civic engagement declined first, followed by declining economic equality.  “People turned inward and the income gap grew without people caring,” Dr. Putnam stated.  The height of civic engagement in the United States was during and following World War II.  The World War II generation was engaged, had high levels of voter turnout and their voting trends tried to equalize income disparity, explained Dr. Putnam.   Once the baby boomers came of age there was already a decline in social and civic involvement. 

However, Dr. Putnam, continued, by the 1990s families from middle to upper middle class households began to reengage in civic society.  What he has seen though, is that lower class white families have less and less civic engagement.  Why is this trend important?  It is important because if social disengagement has an effect on economic equality, the United States risks becoming a class society where people may bridge racially and religiously but not socioeconomically.

Dr. Putnam ended by sharing a conversation he had with former President George Bush about why these trends may be taking place.  Both men concluded that family structure is a major factor in lower class civic disengagement but that current economic anxiety may also be a contributing factor.
“This is a crucially important social policy issue.  If we don’t address this, America will be a much different place.  It will be a ‘me’ society and none of us will want to live in that society,” warned Dr. Putnam.

The lecture was a great introduction into the decades of research and analysis that Dr. Putnam has done and continues to do. His work has earned him numerous awards and accolades.  He is currently working on three major empirical projects:  the changing role of religion in contemporary America, the effects of workplace practices on family and community life, and practical strategies for civic renewal in the United States in the context of immigration and social and ethnic diversity.
“Since the inaugural presentation in 1955, the Wherrett Lecture series had brought leading thinkers who help us better understand the complicated relationship between our local government institutions and the civil community of which they are an integral part.  Professor Putnam's presentation stands as an exemplar in that tradition,” said Professor Dr. David Miller.