- In the new millennium, community organization stopped getting new members
- Social virtue is best when there is density
- “Bridging” activities are inclusive, looking outwards, and are good for getting ahead
- “Bonding” are exclusive, looking inward, and are good for getting by
- Voting is down all over the US
- But political interest remains stable
- Politics is a bigger business than ever, but we shifted focus from neighborhood drives to paid drives
- All aspects of political participation have declined
- Solo politics declined slowest
- “We remain reasonably informed spectators”
- There are more groups with fewer members
- Groups have shifted from connecting members with each other to connecting them to a cause
- Generally, membership by cohort is the same but younger generations participate less
- For the farmer, an evening social activity might be nice but not so for the office worker
- Yiddish: Machers are formal socializers, Schmoozers are informal
- Bowling is the most popular sport, though not league bowling
- Concert and museum visits are up
- “Fundraising” is now “Friendraising”
- Many contribute only when asked
- Generosity tracks with of sociality, not our economy
- “Thick trust” is when you trust because of a small community
- Telecommunications had shifted in person visits to the phone
- Information needs social context to be useful
- The Internet tends to enhance existing communities
- People nearer each other tend to email each other more
- Homogeneous communities have lower civic involvement
- Remote workers drive as much as office workers, just more trips to malls
- “There are two kinds of people in the world: those who walk into a room and turn on the TV and those who walk into a room and turn the TV off.”
- TV is the only leisure activity that blocks other leisure activities
- Social networks help stop bad things from happening to children
- Strong ties are more likely to know and hear the same opportunities as you do, it is the weak ties that are more likely to have something new
- Is it better to have an open neighborhood where no one has anyone over, or to have racially segregated neighborhoods where families visit each other?
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.