I just got the book Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam and I am excited. Today I flew through the first few pages of the book and have already learned some interesting tidbits that I thought I would share. Putnam writes:

As the 1960s ended, sociologists Daniel Bell and Virginia Held reported that “there is more participation than ever before in America”

But as quickly as 1990 we began to see civic organizations completely die out and close the doors. Even though civic participation was at an all time high in the 60′s it seems to have bottomed out in the 90′s.

So, what does this mean? Well, it means that those reaching adulthood in the 80′s would have had only a small opportunity to participate in civic organizations and in culture as a part of a larger community. Those reaching adulthood in the 90′s had virtually no opportunity to participate in civic organizations, because these organizations were dying at the time and would not have even shown up on the social radar of most young adults. And, those people reaching adulthood later than 2000 would have virtually no knowledge that such organizations exist and little reason to think about life as anything but an individual journey.

So the shift in thinking as gone from community minded to individual minded because most adults younger than forty have thrived in a culture of declining togetherness.

This has been my personal experience as well. I can remember my grandmother talking about her weekly Bridge game (it’s cards people) when I was a kid and wondering why she would want to get together and play cards with other people. For some reason the idea of spending that much time with other people for only recreational purposes seemed odd. Now I realize that my thinking was odd.

As I am reading this book and realizing how frighteningly individualistic our culture has become I am more convicted than ever that believers must redeem a culture of community within the body of Christ and secular culture. We must learn to live life together. We must learn to build up and rely on one another. I am convinced that life is better together.

Any thoughts?