The Sociology Book

124

T H E B O N D S O F O U R

C O M M U N I T I E S

HAVE WITHERED

R O B E R T D. P U T N A M ( 1 9 4 1 – )

A

recurrent theme animating

early social thinkers was

the fear that modern

society was eroding traditional

forms of community life, social

cohesion, and a shared sense of

solidarity. As valid as those

concerns about change were, the

19th century was also a great era

of voluntarism, during which

people cooperated and established

many of the institutions—such as

schools, missions for the poor, and

charities—that we know today.

Social capital grows from a sense of common

identity and shared values such as trust, reciprocity,

good will, and fellowship...

...which help to create the voluntary associations and civic

institutions that bind communities together.

But our lifestyles are increasingly individualized

and we have disengaged from public affairs,

and even friends and neighbors.

The bonds of our communities have withered.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Social capital

KEY DATES

1916 The term “social capital”

is coined by US social reformer

L.J. Hanifan, and refers to

intangible things that count

in daily life, such as “good will,

fellowship, sympathy, and

social intercourse.”

2000 Finnish sociologist

Martti Siisiäinen critically

compares Pierre Bourdieu and

Robert D. Putnam’s respective

concepts of social capital.

2000 The Saguaro Seminar at

Harvard University produces

“Better Together,” a report

led by Putnam and a team of

scholars aimed at addressing

the “critically low levels” of

social capital in the US.

2013 Dutch social thinker

Marlene Vock and others use

the concept of social capital in

“Understanding Willingness to

Pay for Social Network Sites.”