---
type: source
title: "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community"
author: "Robert Putnam"
url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone
date: 2000-01-01
domain: cultural-dynamics
format: book
status: processed
processed_by: clay
processed_date: 2026-03-08
claims_extracted:
  - "social capital erodes when associational life declines because trust generalized reciprocity and civic norms are produced by repeated face-to-face interaction in voluntary organizations not by individual virtue"
tags: [social-capital, civic-engagement, trust, community]
---

# Bowling Alone

Comprehensive empirical account of declining American civic engagement since the 1960s. Documents the erosion of social capital — generalized trust, reciprocity norms, and civic skills — as voluntary associations decline. Identifies four causal factors: generational replacement, television, suburban sprawl, and time pressure.