Postwar observers saw leisure drawing Americans into civic and neighborhood engagement

Evidence

As a matter of fact, mankind now possesses for the first time the tools and knowledge to create whatever kind of world he wants…. Despite our Protestant ethic, there are many signs that the message is beginning to get through to some people…. Not only are Americans flocking into bowling leagues and garden clubs, they are satisfying their gregarious urges in countless neighborhood committees to improve the local roads and garbage collections and to hound their public servants into doing what the name implies. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 26

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Shared sociable activity builds the civic bonds democracy requires. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 123; America’s postwar civic engagement peaked despite widespread discrimination and inequality. — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 29

Broader Connections

• Shared sociable activity builds the civic bonds democracy requires. #corroborates (0.80) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 123