Americans widely perceived community bonds weakening by the 1990s.

Evidence

At the conclusion of the twentieth century, ordinary Americans shared this sense of civic malaise. We were reasonably content about our economic prospects, hardly a surprise after an expansion of unprecedented length, but we were not equally convinced that we were on the right track morally or culturally. Of baby boomers interviewed in 1987, 53 percent thought their parents’ generation was better in terms of “being a concerned citizen, involved in helping others in the community,” as compared with only 21 percent who thought their own generation was better. Fully 77 percent said the nation was worse off because of “less involvement in community activities.” In 1992 three-quarters of the U.S. workforce said that “the breakdown of community” and “selfishness” were “serious” or “extremely serious” problems in America. In 1996 only 8 percent of all Americans said that “the honesty and integrity of the average American” were improving, as compared with 50 percent of us who thought we were becoming less trustworthy. Those of us who said that people had become less civil over the preceding ten years outnumbered those who thought people had become more civil, 80 percent to 12 percent. In several surveys in 1999 two-thirds of Americans said that America’s civic life had weakened in recent years, that social and moral values were higher when they were growing up, and that our society was focused more on the individual than the community. More than 80 percent said there should be more emphasis on community, even if that put more demands on individuals. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 59

Categorization

• QUESTION: The perceived decline in community concern reported here is the baseline puzzle chapter 5 onward will need to explain — how group solidarity through shared projects thinned.
• XREF: connects to: Civic organizations across America faded dramatically in the late twentieth century. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 22; American friendship has measurably collapsed since the early 1990s; American social isolation worsened sharply between 1990 and 2021 — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization…, 88 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• American friendship has measurably collapsed since the early 1990s #corroborates (0.85)
• American social isolation worsened sharply between 1990 and 2021 #corroborates (0.82) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 88
• American mass associations collapsed across the board in the 1980s-1990s #corroborates (0.80) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 93
• By the late 1990s US participation and associational life had collapsed while parties converged #corroborates (0.78) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 10
• Generational succession explains roughly half of America’s civic decline since the 1970s #expands (0.75) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 981
• Americans perceived Mexican immigration as the primary cultural threat in 1990 #exemplifies (0.72) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 540