|
While I don’t want to use my space to prod, poke, or nag people into volunteering, the fact must be faced: the lack of volunteer time and energy is the single biggest obstacle that our congregation currently faces. From small projects, such as hosting a potluck, to large projects, such as planning an event or holiday celebration, we are hampered by a shortage of volunteer power. The same few hardy souls stand up again and again to shoulder the burden – but we burn them out. The wonderful turn-out for the first Demolition Day was a heartwarming exception to this general trend.
In an effort to understand our dilemma, I picked up a copy of Bowling Alone, by Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam. In this work, Putman charts the rise and fall of social capital in America over the last century. Social capital is the value inherent in a social network. While a welder (physical capital) enables an auto maker in Detroit to be productive at making cars, and a medical school education (human capital) enables a surgeon to be productive in the operating room, connections between friends and neighbors (social capital) enables those individuals to be more productive in achieving various goals, from searching for a new job to lobbying for a new neighborhood playground. Social capital can be built and exercised in a wide variety of arenas, from clubs and churches to trade unions and professional organizations to a weekly poker night or neighborhood block party.
Putnam examines an almost overwhelming number of data sets. Whether looking at political participation, participation in associations such as the PTA, Boy Scouts or Hadassah, membership in trade unions and professional associations, membership in churches and synagogues, and even informal ties such as card games and bowling leagues, Putnam found a strikingly similar pattern. Indicator after indicator of social capital and civic engagement show a rough trend of increasing involvement from about 1900 to 1930, followed by a slump during the Great Depression. The 1940s and 1950s witnessed a striking boom in civic engagement, but since the early 1960s civic participation has undergone a steady, significant decline. It may be cold comfort, but it appears that our congregation’s difficulty at sustaining volunteering is part of a very broad trend.
Does it matter that social capital is on the wane? The answer appears to be an unequivocal “YES!” Study after study shows social capital is critically important for supporting a wide range of social goods, including high quality education, neighborhood safety, economic prosperity, and even the health of individuals. Social capital and civic engagement can help ameliorate social ills such as teen pregnancy and juvenile crime.
So why has social capital been declining for the past four decades? There is no single clear culprit in this story. Americans have, on average, been spending an increasing number of hours at work each week, and this seems to be contributing to the declining levels of civic engagement. Sprawl and commuting appear to play a role as well. As people spend more and more time in their cars, they have less and less time to donate blood or attend a town meeting. In addition, as more and more people live in one area, commute to another area to work and yet another area for shopping, people’s sense of living in an integrated community is shattered. Interestingly enough, television appears to be one of the largest contributing factors to the decline of social capital. Heavy television viewers are much less likely to participate in clubs, join associations, and even socialize with friends and relatives. Putnam estimates that television is one of the most important culprits, perhaps more important than work and sprawl put together. The single biggest factor, though, according to Putnam, is generational change. The generations that were alive during WWII appear to have been stamped by the experience of social solidarity that resulted from the whole country adopting a war-time footing. Individuals who lived through the war were highly likely to remain lifelong joiners and doers, civic stars, if you will. Individuals born after 1945 are much less likely to be civically engaged than their parents. As members of the earlier generations slowly pass from the scene, our collective level of social capital inexorably declines.
The evidence Putnam presents speaks loud and clear: the diminishing of social capital is hurting us all. He ends his book with a plea for rebuilding civic engagement and replenishing our national stocks of social capital. As you head to the beach this summer, think about packing a copy of the book. Our congregation is on the front lines in this battle. It is worth reading reports from other parts of the front.
B’shalom,
- Rachel
|
