I found the article "Democracy Means Paying Attention" by Robert Bellah to be less straightforward than Putnam's "Bowling Alone". Bellah definitely has a much less optimistic view than Putnam about the state of civic engagement in the United States. For Bellah, drastic reform is the only answer.
"Our institutions are badly functioning and in need of repair or drastic reform, so that if they are to support a pattern of cultivation rather than one of exploitation, we must change them by altering their legal status and the way we think about them, for institutional change involves both laws and mores. More than money and power, these need to be at the center of our attention." - Page 272
Applying Bellah's to our own community, that would mean removing places like the Northfield Community Action center and shuffling around responsibilities to new agencies. I think that Bellah needs to be more realistic and acknowledge what is working as far as civic engagement rather than saying it all isn't good enough.
Paige,
ReplyDeleteI'm uncertain what in Bellah's chapter leads you to think that he would advocate letting go of projects that are working. Surely one can observe that institutions are badly functioning without that requiring that all are disfunctional. If some work, learn from them; but don't stick with those that are beyond repair.
LDL