Citation:
Date Published:
Aug 9, 2007Abstract:
Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam is a self-described full-on liberal who worries a lot about community in America.
He made his name in the 1990s with his finding that hordes of Americans were, in his famous phrase, "bowling alone"—living without the traditional community ties of bowling leagues and Moose clubs that bound people together.
Then he set out on a huge project to find out why. The answer looks like a liberal's nightmare: diversity. Diverse communities, Putnam found, show dysfunction. At least for a while.
This hour On Point: Robert Putnam, Pat Buchanan and Lani Guinier on diversity and community in America.
To listen to this conversation go to:
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/08/20070809_b_main.asp
Robert Putnam is a faculty associate at the Weatherhead Center and Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy.