Good neighbors are better crime fighters than good police. Social networks and social support are unexpectedly important for health, both mental and physical. Mortality rates are powerfully affected by social capital. Although the origins of this epidemic are not yet clear, the prime candidate is social isolation. The collapse of civic engagement is not just a consequence, but also a cause, of the miasma that has enveloped our politics over the last quarter century.
Representative government works better in communities with more social capital.
Tax compliance is higher, blood donations are more abundant, and road rage is rarer where citizens are more involved in civic life. American democracy rests on our tradition of civic engagement, and as long as we continue to disengage from one another, our democracy will falter. Putnam reviews these contentious issues and presents evidence that in fact liberty and equality would be enhanced, not diminished, by a revival of community in America. A capacity for self-renewal. One of the enduring qualities of American civil society is its capacity for self-renewal.