Civic membership declines even as public agitation intensifies in America.

Evidence

Throughout the recent “decade of protest,” the secular decline in American membership organizations also accelerated; unions, clubs, associations, political parties, and even—spectacularly for American life—churches lost members, exacerbated by the rise of a new digital media circuit and tightening labor laws, accelerated by the “loneliness epidemic” that metastasized out of the actual one of 2020. The result is a curiously K-shaped recovery: while the erosion of American civic life proceeds apace, the country’s public sphere is increasingly subject to convulsive agitation and controversy, from online conspiracy theories to the storming of government buildings. General discontent runs high, fueling political emotions; anger at police racism or Zionist violence—at immigrant crime or Chinese weather balloons—boils over. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 22

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘K-shaped recovery’ concept parallels Putnam’s ‘Bowling Alone’ decline data — the reader wants to study Jäger’s left appropriation of Putnam. — connects to: American civil society vibrancy has notably declined over recent decades — Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining…, 6; Political scandals alone cannot explain Americans’ civic withdrawal — Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining…, 25; Membership stagnates even though more Americans are positioned to join groups. — Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining…, 50 (+4 more)
• DEFINE: ‘K-shaped recovery’ is a vivid concept worth preserving — civic erosion vs. public convulsion.