ANTH 23 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone, Baby Boom
Document Summary
Political scientist, professor of public policy at harvard. Wrote article in 1995 and book in 2000 called bowling alone about america"s decline in social capital. Social capital: social networks and the associated norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness (137) Ethnic diversity is increasing everywhere, and this is an important social asset . Even though in the short term, diversity decreases our sense of community and trust of our neighbors. Strange people coming in makes people hunker down and keep to themselves. In the long term, a successful society will create new forms of social solidarity and new, more encompassing identities (138-9) Immigration accompanies economic growth and may increase incomes. Comparatively young immigrants can offset demographic imbalance. More young people immigrate than older people. Baby boom generation is getting old now, having more young people to pay into social security helps. Remittances to immigrants" home countries can speed development there. Immigrants sending money back to their families in their home countries.
