Cooperative civic activities decline faster than individual ones
Evidence
Strikingly, the forms of participation that have withered most noticeably reflect organized activities at the community level. The verbs describing these modes of involvement in the top half of the table reflect action in cooperation with others: “serve,” “work,” “attend.” Each of these activities can be undertaken only if others in the community are also active. Conversely, the activities (in the bottom half of the table) that have declined most slowly are, for the most part, actions that one can undertake as an individual. Indeed, most of these activities merely require a pen or a keyboard, for the most common verb in this section of the list is “write.” — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 127
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: American civil society vibrancy has notably declined over recent decades — Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining…, 6; Cooperatives detached from movement ties undergo movement degeneration and democratic erosion — Adrian Josef Amon, Organizing the study of degeneration…, 51; Different civic activities declined through different generational and society-wide mechanisms — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 915 (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Civic engagement vulnerable to free riding declines fastest
#corroborates(0.95) — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 128 - Competitive individualism makes civic duty feel like a wasteful drain
#expands(0.85) - Opting out of cooperation is individually feasible but not in the aggregate
#expands(0.85) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2763 - Civic membership declines even as public agitation intensifies in America.
#corroborates(0.80) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 22 - Intergroup cooperation unravels because free-riding and competition outcompete collective benefit.
#qualifies(0.75) - Egoistic micro-motivation lacks momentum from one act of cooperation to the next.
#qualifies(0.75) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 199