Robert Putnam

The Diocesan Schools Office suggested Principals and pastors attend his lecture at Notre Dame. It was excellent. I am familiar with mych of his work. Here are some of his books. 

Robert Putnam. He has several books. They are all good. 

 

Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis. His latest book. It is a good description of his own 

home town and how it has changed. He compares it to many other towns. His thesis is that the 

cities and towns have turned into separate groups by social class and no longer function as a 

whole. 

 

Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Probably his most famous 

book. It describes how voluntary associations—bowling leagues, PTA’s, churches, etc—are 

dying. 

American Grace Co-authored with David Campbell of Notre Dame. It is a study of American 

religious life. There is a good chapter on Catholics, including a section on Latino Catholics. There 

is also a section on ͞The Rise of the Nones.͟ 

 

Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Italy. In this book, Putnam asks the question, ͞

Why does northern Italy prosper and southern Italy doesn’t͟ The difference is stark enough that 

some Italian politicians in the north would like to get rid of southern Italy because it is an 

economic drag. It is also where the Mafia thrives.  His answer is that the civic traditions and 

engagements of people working together, trusting one another, collaborating in northern Italy 

are much stronger. Civic engagement translates into social trust and social cooperation, which 

lead to strong institutions thriving on soc

Reflection on Community

There is a powerful trend in U.S. society. You can use different words to describe it but 

basically, we are segregating ourselves into communities that are like ourselves. No one is 

forcing us to do this; we are choosing to. Perhaps we do it because are simply less challenged 

and most affirmed there.  

 

But it is hurting us, at least in the long run. It is helping to ruin the social fabric that should hold 

us together. It is making us narrow-minded, seeing only our own points of view and unable to 

see another point of view. It is, in other words, helping to polarize us. It allows us to withdraw 

from a broader vision of public life. It makes us think that ͞our kids͟ are only our biological 

children and that we are not responsible for ͞all our kids.͟   It means that we don’t worry about 

͞those people.͟

This is worth reflecting about. While the discussion is often at the national level, it is also very relevant and even at the core of what a town and a parish are. 

I will post a series of books that are on point for this topic.