Cat's Eye: A Tail of Social Capital
Channel: LIVING SOCIOLOGY
Date: 20/03/2014

This 2004 documentary offers a look at the concept of social capital as described by Robert Putnam in the book, "Bowling Alone." Because a group of cat owners put money and effort into creating cat shows, they had a social infrastructure in place that allowed them to respond quickly and effectively when an emergency hit their community. A fire that broke out during the Sunday morning of the show in an apartment complex across the street from the venue was far less tragic because the cat show entrants, their sponsors and staff were able to rescue and calm the cats from the building. This allowed people who barely had the clothes on their backs to have one less burden as they coped with the fire and its aftermath. If cat owners never met each other and put time and effort into this activity, then many more cats would have been lost. 

"Social capital turns out to have forceful, even quantifiable effects on many different aspects of our lives. What is at stake is not merely warm, cuddly feelings or frissons of community pride. We shall review hard evidence that our schools and neighborhoods don't work so well when community bonds slacken, that our economy, our democracy, and even our health and happiness depend on adequate stocks of social capital."--Robert Putnam (http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/p/putnam-alone.html) 

For more information check out the radio episode that started this all: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ourownvoices/2012/08/13/episode-41-bowling-for-kitties-aired-april-24-2003