Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein Flashcards

1
Q

they all involve creating social capital: developing networks of relationships that weave individuals into groups and communities. 135

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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2
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social capital refers to social networks, norms of reciprocity, mutual assistance, and trustworthiness. 143

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3
Q

crime rate in a neighborhood is lowered when neighbors know one another well, 146

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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4
Q

social capital can be put to morally repugnant purposes as well as admirable ones, 149

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5
Q

Bonding social capital is a kind of sociological Super Glue, whereas bridging social capital provides a sociological WD-40. 153

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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6
Q

If you get sick, the people who bring you chicken soup are likely to represent your bonding social capital. On the other hand, a society that has only bonding social capital will look like Belfast or Bosnia—segregated into mutually hostile camps. So a pluralist democracy requires lots of bridging social capital, not just the bonding variety. 154

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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7
Q

bridging social capital is harder to create than bonding social capital—after 157

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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8
Q

Community building sometimes has a warm and fuzzy feeling, a kind of “kumbaya” cuddliness about it. 160

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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9
Q

Even as the value of social capital has been more and more widely acknowledged, evidence has mounted of a diminution of social capital in the United States. 173

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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10
Q

the last third of the century witnessed a startling and dismaying reversal of that trend. Beginning, roughly speaking, in the late 1960s, 176

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11
Q

We do not yet see evidence of a general resurgence of social connection or involvement in the public life of the community. 184

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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12
Q

who has seen her neighborhood unravel and then knit itself together; 190

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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13
Q

social-capital development. 203

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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14
Q

Better Together aims instead to illustrate some of the ways in which Americans in many diverse corners of our society are making progress on the perennial challenge of re-creating new forms of community, 207

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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15
Q

The U.S. Army uses the term “ground truth” to describe the real experience of soldiers in the field—the moment-by-moment truth of being in combat, 214

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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16
Q

One lesson is that creating robust social capital takes time and effort. 255

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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17
Q

it develops through extensive and time-consuming face-to-face conversation between two individuals or among small groups of people. 256

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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18
Q

we see no way that social capital can be created instantaneously or en masse. 259

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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19
Q

social capital is necessarily a local phenomenon because it is defined by connections among people who know one another. 260

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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20
Q

social capitalists. 266

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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21
Q

social capital is usually developed in pursuit of a particular goal or set of goals and not for its own sake. 272

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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22
Q

For many parents, it was their first real connection with the school, the first time anyone had bothered to ask their opinions. For the teachers, it was a first glimpse of their students’ lives outside school. 292

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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23
Q

“We make private pain public.” The house meeting was part of the process, a step toward making the pain public in a local group to build the energy and commitment needed to bring that pain—and the actions needed to relieve it—to a wider public stage where officials would have to recognize it and respond. 320

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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24
Q

Organizing is all about building relationships. It’s not about meetings. These are not counseling sessions. They are not an interview. It’s a conversation. You’re building a relationship here. 325

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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25
Q

And the only way to do this is to leave yourself open to be changed by the conversation.”4 Unlike activist organizations that develop a public agenda first and then try to attract people who support it, 327

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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26
Q

Alinsky believed that reform could best be achieved when the citizens of poor and neglected communities organized and exerted power on their own behalf. He saw doing for others as less effective and as a kind of welfare colonialism. 337

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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27
Q

we are social beings, defined by our relationships with other people—with “family and kin, but also with less familiar people with whom we engage in the day-to-day business of living our lives in a complicated society.” 362

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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28
Q

How do I get them to follow my agenda?” That’s not organizing. What I mean by organizing is getting you to recognize what’s in your best interest. 372

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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29
Q

Relationship-building is a way of looking at the world, not just a strategy. 401

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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30
Q

the core of its school-improvement efforts has been building relationships: between the school and the community; between students and teachers. Relationships are not just the engine of reform, they are one of the goals of reform. 403

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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31
Q

the IAF organizations see schools, and learning, as embedded in the community, not as isolated institutions that can be fixed by applying the latest philosophy of teaching.13 407

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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32
Q

“No permanent allies, no permanent enemies” is a core principle. 421

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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33
Q

Abstract ideas do not connect people, and social action, when it is not rooted in the heart of people’s life experience, withers in the face of opposition and disappointment. 456

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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34
Q

To be effective, these conversations have to be face-to-face, so people can read each other’s emotions, can express sympathy and work through disagreement together. 462

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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35
Q

the problem with a cell phone is that it makes you think you’ve had a conversation.”) 465

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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36
Q

When he went to the local Catholic school to enroll my sister, they told him there was no room, not even a desk for her to sit at. He said, ‘If I build a desk, will you take her?’ They agreed. He built a desk big enough for two students, and they admitted her and another girl.” 468

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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37
Q

Stories build relationships; they knit communities together. 480

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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38
Q

Leaders and organizers are constantly seeking out new leaders that have some energy, the ability to reflect, a sense of humor, some anger and the ability to develop a following. 484

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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39
Q

When Moses is overwhelmed by the task of leading the Israelites in the desert, Jethro warns him that he will wear himself out and advises him to delegate authority to capable men who will share the burden and resolve disputes in groups of 507

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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40
Q

When someone gives marching orders and others march, you are unlikely to find living relationships and real community. 512

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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41
Q

“one-sided relationship” is an oxymoron. 514

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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42
Q

“I don’t move as fast as some people, but I outstay them, I wear them out.” 521

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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43
Q

his most important work is “finding new leaders that find new leaders.” 525

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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44
Q

Gathering people—and especially finding and developing the leaders who can gather people—is the foundation of IAF work. 547

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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45
Q

“There are two sources of power, organized money and organized people. We don’t have organized money, but we have the people.” 604

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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46
Q

The Heartbeat of the Community 637

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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47
Q

Harold Washington Library Center, opened in 1991, is one of the largest public library buildings in the world. 650

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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48
Q

“Now people say, ‘I’ll meet you at the library,’ “Ayres says. “It’s a safe place. It reminds me of the old neighborhood grocery store, where the grocer knew everyone and everyone saw their neighbors.” 692

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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49
Q

neighborhood library as the “heartbeat” of the community. 697

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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50
Q

I really enjoy coming to a place where such a diverse group interacts positively.” 721

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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51
Q

“One Book, One Chicago” program designed to encourage city residents to read the same book at the same time, 738

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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52
Q

improvements that help bring members of a community together sometimes also disrupt or sever old ties. 769

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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53
Q

institutions increasingly assume that “everybody” uses computers. 843

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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54
Q

the library is a gathering place, too, like an old town square or the corner grocer Anne Ayres remembers. 881

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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55
Q

In The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg describes what he calls the “third place,” a place that is neither work nor home where people can spend time together.4 885

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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56
Q

A good third place makes few demands on the people who gather there, beyond requiring them to abide by some basic local rules 888

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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57
Q

A third place is a neutral ground where people from different walks of life in the community can meet and get to know one another, having in common perhaps only their desire to frequent this particular place. 889

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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58
Q

disappearance of many third places in America. 891

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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59
Q

“making private pain public.”) 926

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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60
Q

describes Chicago as “New York without the attitude” 929

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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61
Q

“hiking the horizontal,” turning that rigid scale on its side so that nothing is categorically above anything else, 1041

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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62
Q

one key to bridging communities and cultures: finding common ground, a meeting place, while recognizing and respecting differences. 1099

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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63
Q

People working together over time is what built connections and understanding. 1124

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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64
Q

To make a ribbon that would stretch from bank to bank, from New Hampshire to Maine, project leaders invited people to write stories of the town and the shipyard on lengths of fabric. 1173

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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65
Q

the willingness to trust in an unknown outcome is “an incredible life skill,” 1230

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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66
Q

Decades of “white flight” to the suburbs had reduced the white population (including whites of Hispanic origin) from 95 percent in 1950 to 16 percent in 1980.4 Banks, planners, and government officials saw neighborhoods with increasing nonwhite populations as being in decline almost by definition. 1291

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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67
Q

banged on doors and introduced themselves to their neighbors. At countless community meetings, at the multicultural festival, through hard side-by-side labor, they helped people in this place connect and reconnect. 1348

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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68
Q

the so-called neighborhood initiative would be under the control of outside agencies, not the neighborhood, 1380

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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69
Q

Defensive stubbornness seems a more likely reaction to hostile public criticism—certainly a more common one. 1385

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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70
Q

if you live in a neighborhood where people care about each other, you can recover from anything,” 1444

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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71
Q

credits that increased sense of safety to a renewed sense of community. 1450

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72
Q

the term urban village had acquired currency from a classic study by sociologist Herbert Gans that described the tragic demise of a once vibrant Boston neighborhood gentrified out of existence in the heyday of government-sponsored “urban renewal” of the 1950s.)15 1478

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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73
Q

people are in relationship with one another and everyone has a role in the community, 1483

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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74
Q

“When I first moved to this neighborhood,” Henriquez says, “everybody was a stranger. Nobody said good morning to each other.” 1489

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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75
Q

Barros counts the fact of returning young adults as an important sign of successful community development. “They come back because of good relationships and opportunities,” 1517

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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76
Q

resident Deborah Wilson, who says, “I’d like to thank DSNI for bringing out the activist in me. I didn’t know I had it in me.” 1544

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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77
Q

getting people together to tell their own stories in their own words seemed to create the mutual understanding and sympathy that made collective action possible. 1561

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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78
Q

development without displacement 1587

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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79
Q

“If that happens twice, people feel they’re not welcome and pull out.” 1595

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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80
Q

Barros says, “The success of this neighborhood has got to be about the relationships we build, because there are going to be conflicts.” 1599

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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81
Q

His great skill, according to Grisham, was in bringing people together and introducing them to ideas that he borrowed elsewhere. He was mainly a catalyst; he unlocked other people’s power. “He used the networks around him,” 1743

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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82
Q

“It began with an individual,” he says, referring of course to McLean. “It always begins with an individual, but there is no way of predicting who that person will be.” 1787

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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83
Q

He talks to them about the importance of achieving a critical mass of people committed to the same vision of community development, how not much seems to happen until that critical mass is reached but how, when it is, change can come quickly. 1795

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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84
Q

“There’s a myth that the tornado of ’36 brought Tupelo together and started the turnaround. It didn’t happen that way. That kind of crisis can pull people together for a short time, but they don’t sustain the connection.” 1802

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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85
Q

“It doesn’t stay in business to make money,” Gray says. “It makes money to stay in business.” 1853

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86
Q

“Newspapers help give a community its self-definition,” 1854

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87
Q

“‘There’s an expectation that if you’re enjoying the benefits of being in Tupelo, you’re expected to reinvest in the community,’ 1883

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88
Q

If community means mutual influence and mutual dependence, 1921

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89
Q

Saddleback Church From Crowd to Congregation 1936

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90
Q

during the last third of the twentieth century involvement in many religious communities across the country slumped, just as more secular forms of community involvement did. 1949

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91
Q

between 1960 and 2000 church membership, church attendance, and involvement in church-related groups such as Sunday schools, “church socials,” and the like declined by perhaps one third nationwide. Among the so-called mainline churches (Methodists, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and the like) the falloff has been even greater.1 1951

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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92
Q

A sign by the road that curves up from the entrance reads: “First-Time Visitors Use Right Lane for Preferred Parking.” 1969

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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93
Q

“Our Purposes: Magnification, Membership, Maturity, Ministry, Mission.” 1975

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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94
Q

Greeters meet churchgoers at every turn—on the steps, the walkway, at the door to the sanctuary—smiling and shaking hands. 1984

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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95
Q

“Welcome to Saddleback. Sit back, relax, and enjoy being here.” 1989

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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96
Q

Everything happens exactly on cue, in a perfectly timed and seamless performance. 2008

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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97
Q

The Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and Brentwood Baptist in Houston, Texas, have built facilities that are in effect church-centered malls or small towns, with health clubs and athletic facilities, McDonald’s franchises, banks, and other amenities designed to attract people and encourage them to eat, play, and work as well as worship there.2 2019

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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98
Q

Jesus drew large crowds by speaking directly to people’s concerns in language they understood, not by insisting on traditional forms of Jewish worship, 2037

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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99
Q

“There is no such thing as religious music,” he says, “only religious lyrics.” 2040

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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100
Q

his purpose, like David’s, is to reach the people of his generation in their own terms 2042

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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101
Q

the medium is not the message, the message is the message, and it should be communicated in whatever forms touch people most effectively. 2044

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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102
Q

how to turn the “crowd” into a “congregation,” to use Saddleback terms for distinguishing between the visitors, the consumers of comfort and entertainment, and the committed members of the church community. The answer is small groups. 2052

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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103
Q

The idea of being part of a “community” of forty-five thousand calls into question what “community” means. 2064

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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104
Q

In any large organization, people’s sense of loyalty, connection, and identification comes from being part of a smaller team or group who spend enough time together to know and be known to one another. 2066

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105
Q

Joining a small group is the first, essential step in being part of a megachurch rather than just attending it. 2067

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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106
Q

Lyle Schaller notes, “Most very large congregations affirm the fact that they are a congregation of congregations, 2068

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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107
Q

Atlantic Monthly, Charles Trueheart cites Jim Mellado of Willow Creek on the importance of lay-led “cells” of up to ten people, the small-group cell being “the basic unit of church life.” 2070

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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108
Q

Warren writes, “People are not looking for a friendly church as much as they are looking for friends.” 2072

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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109
Q

“The average church member knows 67 people in the congregation, whether the church has 200 or 2,000 attending. A member does not have to know everyone in the church in order to feel like it’s their church, but he or she does have to know some people.”8 2074

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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110
Q

the words “Saddleback Church” in small print. Those signs give church members a reason to say hello to their neighbors: “Oh, you go to Saddleback, too?” 2082

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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111
Q

Sharon Carton. “Some people are at that stage where they just need somebody to ask them.” 2086

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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112
Q

Warren cites a biblical foundation for small-group membership. He mentions that the New Testament uses the phrase “one another” more than fifty times, an indication of the importance of human relationships to Christianity. 2087

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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113
Q

the Gospel spread primarily through relationships. 2090

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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114
Q

membership at Saddleback passes through an obligatory small-group membership class (“Class 101”), 2095

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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115
Q

the church has small groups and small-group ministries for every conceivable need and talent: 2096

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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116
Q

At Saddleback, says Tim Holcomb, “You are expected to be in community; you can’t live on your own. The purpose of your life is to be in community, to love and to give. When you see community work, it makes you want to be a part of it.” 2108

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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117
Q

Saddleback periodically holds small-group connection sessions, promising, “If you are tired of being a nameless face in the crowd, join us … for one hour and we will help you find a small-group family.” 2111

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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118
Q

He believes that the biggest factor in keeping a group together is affinity: people whose concerns, ages, and backgrounds are similar tend to connect and stay together. Eastman says the groups offer “short-term fellowship that can lead to lifetime relationships. 2118

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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119
Q

It has helped immensely to have people we can have that sense of community with.” 2126

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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120
Q

“God will always sacrifice short-term comfort for long-term gain,” 2132

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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121
Q

Lyle Schaller writes that “the number-one point of commonality [among very large churches] is absolute clarity about the belief system. 2134

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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122
Q

The structures of small-group education and spiritual development at Saddleback are designed to help people move from “the crowd” of weekend attenders to “the congregation” of those who are actual members of the church to “the committed,” who are committed to spiritual maturity, to “the core” of those active in lay ministry. It is a progression, as church staff also say, from “attendees to army.” 2149

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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123
Q

People come to Saddleback not despite their isolation and materialism but because of them; they are looking for the community and sense of purpose that their materially successful lives lack. 2164

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124
Q

living a life of “significance instead of success.” 2167

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125
Q

All staff are encouraged to contribute at least ten percent of their time to helping other churches.” 2176

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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126
Q

“If you don’t like fellowship on earth, you’re not going to like heaven.” 2188

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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127
Q

Only one in four American Protestant churches reports an average worship attendance of more than 140.11 2202

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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128
Q

All Saints, too, has bucked the trend of shrinkage or stagnation in church membership. 2204

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129
Q

one of the pillars of community building is being heard and telling our stories,” 2215

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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130
Q

junior warden Catherine Keig says, “I don’t describe community as sameness; I describe it as difference.” 2223

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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131
Q

Affinity is a more powerful glue than diversity. 2236

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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132
Q

worth noting that “communion” and “community” are essentially the same word, having to do with sharing, with joint participation. 2271

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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133
Q

Lyle Schaller explains: Most of us need a point of dependable stability and continuity in our lives. 2285

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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134
Q

There, as at Saddleback, a combination of shared values, shared worship, and small-group connections creates and maintains a church community. 2295

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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135
Q

certainty has a wider appeal than ambiguity, 2296

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136
Q

Do Something League, a national organization established to encourage community activism and develop leadership skills among young people. 2309

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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137
Q

the first principle of Do Something is youth leadership: letting the young members choose 2311

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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138
Q

In the presidential election of 1972, 42 percent of young people aged 18 to 24 voted, but by 2000 this figure had dropped to 28 percent, the steepest decline of any age cohort. 2339

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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139
Q

civic activism early in life is one of the strongest predictors of later adult involvement. 2343

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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140
Q

scrap the local-chapter model in favor of a school-based one. 2378

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

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141
Q

it could tap into existing social groups and existing relationships of trust and cooperation in schools, rather than having to recruit youngsters one by one. 2379

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

142
Q

Do Something would benefit by entering communities through the established institutions of local schools. 2381

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

143
Q

taken note of the connections they are making with adults in the community and the ways in which these relationships lead to positive outcomes. 2518

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

144
Q

annual “Kindness and Justice Challenge” in honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr., 2556

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

145
Q

For two weeks, students around the country fill out forms describing every act of kindness they carry out—washing 2557

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

146
Q

Texas Industrial Areas Foundation’s Iron Rule: “Never do anything for anybody that they can do for themselves.” 2586

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

147
Q

the strength of the organization comes from a combination of clarity about its essential principles and behaviors with a willingness to change in light of experience 2631

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

148
Q

redefining education as more active and participatory. This new initiative reflects the same basic beliefs: that the only way to learn participation is to participate; the only way to become a leader is to lead. 2643

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

149
Q

make personal stories and trusting relationships the foundation of collective action and let their agendas arise from thousands of conversations. 2678

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

150
Q

organizing against an “enemy”—a 2681

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

151
Q

This style of organizing was slow, because listening to everyone takes time and building trust and relationships takes time. 2685

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

152
Q

Union membership in America had peaked in 1954, when nearly one third of all nonfarm workers (32.5 percent) had belonged to a union; by 1998 that figure had nose-dived to 14.1 percent. By the 1990s this dramatic decline was mirrored in virtually all industrialized countries. 2700

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

153
Q

That “social thing” is the social-capital heart of this story. 2715

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

154
Q

McKenzie expresses: that transmitted information does not ease isolation or connect people in genuine relationships. 2792

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

155
Q

Eighty percent of the students are eligible for free lunches, the standard measure of poverty levels in schools. 2990

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

156
Q

It is far more compelling to many seniors . . . if they see a chance to do work not as a single volunteer in a school, but as part of a team with a mission. 3023

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

157
Q

the design of Experience Corps incorporates elements of social-capital building to magnify the impact of the individual volunteers. 3025

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

158
Q

The nationwide Experience Corps network is overseen by Civic Ventures, a nonprofit organization “dedicated to transforming the aging of America into a source of individual and social renewal.”2 3026

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

159
Q

“community of practice,” a term that refers to informal groups of people who share knowledge and support one another in their common work. “These are relationships with a purpose,” 3048

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

160
Q

he visited a nearby “old people’s home” whose residents, also starved for human contact, 3066

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

161
Q

the Foster Grandparents program involves more than twenty-five thousand older Americans relating one-on-one to a hundred thousand children a year. It is, according to Freedman, “a hidden triumph of social policy.” 3074

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

162
Q

John Gardner, former secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and founder of Common Cause, deliver a talk entitled “Reinventing Community.” 3084

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

163
Q

1988, “The Experience Corps,” that expressed the same idea in a few succinct pages. Gardner’s brief essay argued for an institution that would draw on the “talent, experience, and commitment” of older Americans, providing a mechanism for them to give back to society while enjoying an opportunity for learning and satisfaction for themselves.5 3087

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

164
Q

making this a social-capital story of relationship and engagement, not simply a story about a volunteer program. Commitment is one of the principles—the 3093

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

165
Q

called for a critical mass of participants in each school because he saw the difference 3100

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

166
Q

The program needs to have a presence, and when we have a team of volunteers we create a critical mass of time, 3105

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

167
Q

having groups of that size has created a supportive community of peers for the volunteers themselves—an experience very different from the isolation volunteers in schools sometimes experience. 3107

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

168
Q

lasting commitment and a sense of genuine participation and connection often depend on having opportunities to develop new skills and take leadership roles. Simply being a “foot soldier” or doing the same thing over and over does not build social capital as readily. 3110

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

169
Q

the “old heads” that Elijah Anderson describes in Streetwise—responsible, experienced older adults who befriended and encouraged youths, surrogate parents who passed on their values and understanding but who lost their authority as neighborhoods declined.7 3137

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

170
Q

Freedman says, “The porch has moved inside the school.” 3139

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

171
Q

Robert Tietze says, “It isn’t just tutoring, it’s community; it’s about working with children to establish relationships that have a social, emotional, and educational impact.” 3145

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

172
Q

The relationships also give the children a positive example of what seniors can be like in a culture that sometimes portrays old people as foolish, helpless, or selfish. 3151

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

173
Q

reviving the traditional role of elders passing on a community’s history to the youngest generation, bringing their shared heritage to life. 3159

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174
Q

Building that connection to the past 3160

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

175
Q

“Social connectedness is the heart of Experience Corps, and the connections radiate in so many directions.” 3178

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

176
Q

To signal and reinforce the legitimacy of the volunteer group as a real, functioning part of the school, the Experience Corps insists that volunteers have mailboxes in the school office alongside the teachers’ boxes. 3190

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

177
Q

If a school is unwilling or unable to work with us to establish these elements, it may be a sign that the relationship is not going to work, and we will choose not to establish a program at that particular site.” 3193

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

178
Q

If support is lacking or halfhearted, the relationship will probably fail. 3196

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

179
Q

supporting a sense of community at the school. 3208

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180
Q

being there and connecting person to person created understanding and support. 3238

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181
Q

“giving something back,” in the words so many of the volunteers use when asked why they give three days a week to the program. 3270

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

182
Q

In Bowling Alone, Putnam marshals evidence that the postwar baby boom generation does not share that ethic of service to anything like the same degree. 3272

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183
Q

fundamental UPS value that, for many years, no one who left the company for any reason would ever be hired back. 3291

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

184
Q

America’s social-capital deficit 3325

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

185
Q

The issue of social capital and work has two facets: Work can affect social capital outside the workplace (as, for example, in corporate-sponsored volunteering or workplace flexibility that enables employees to reconcile their professional obligations with their family and community obligations). Work can affect social capital inside the workplace (as, for example, in the ways office architecture or supervisory practices affect relations among coworkers). 3328

A

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186
Q

UPS is, in fact, an even more interesting story because of the role of social capital within the workplace itself. 3333

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

187
Q

UPS does not represent “boutique capitalism,” 3335

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

188
Q

UPS has pursued a more social capital–intensive strategy than many comparable firms. UPS management has followed this strategy not out of altruism, but because of a hard-nosed business calculation that it is a good way to make a profit, 3336

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

189
Q

Tales of cooperation are part of the company’s folklore. 3364

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Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

190
Q

best advice he got from veterans when he started was “Don’t quit at the end of the day, wait until the next morning.” 3368

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

191
Q

The very difficulty of the work draws people together. Being able to “hack it,” showing the strength and persistence the work demands day after day, defines what it means to be “a real UPSer.” 3372

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

192
Q

There are other sources of unity, some of them visible and symbolic. Like any uniform, the brown uniform worn by every driver represents membership in a collective enterprise, commonality over individuality. The shared, explicit standards and practices that define many jobs at UPS also contribute to unity. 3376

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

193
Q

Ernie Cortés says, “The answer is relationships.” 3384

A

Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert D. Putnam, Lewis Feldstein

194
Q

it does not see electronic (or even phone) communication as a substitute for face-to-face contact. 3397

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having clear norms and goals frees up people at all levels to make decisions consistent with accomplishing their tasks. 3417

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Q

UPS is no democracy, but trusting the people who do the work to make the decisions necessary to get it done has been part of the company’s culture for a long time. 3419

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Leadership development—providing opportunities for people to advance within the company—is a key goal. 3424

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organizations that practice “rank and yank”) firing the lowest-rated 10 percent of workers every year, using fear to keep employees up to snuff. 3435

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Q

UPS has what labor economists term a strong “internal labor market.” That is, jobs (including the top jobs) are filled mostly from within. 3443

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Q

“occupational community,” that is, relatively dense and cooperative connections among the employees. 3448

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Q

Historically, there has been more union democracy and less corruption in UPS locals than in other parts of the Teamsters. I attribute these virtues to the existence of the occupational community.”6 3451

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Q

employee-led committees 3480

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Q

embody two basic convictions: that the people who understand the work best are the ones who do it, and that people usually respond best to help and advice from their peers. 3505

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It’s a home away from home for a lot of them.” 3520

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Q

Retention rates among part-time workers have improved, too, from turnover of almost 50 percent in 2001 to less than 30 percent through June of 2002, though it is hard to judge how much that improvement is due to the employee-retention committees’ work. 3548

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Q

The experience of UPS reminds us of the important values of an “occupational community” as well as the challenges of fostering it in an increasingly competitive global economy. 3581

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Q

they are stories of social connection formed in familiar ways: people who live or work in close proximity to one another meeting and talking, discovering common interests and mutual concerns. 3587

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Q

Net-based community.) Proponents of these communities have argued that ties of mutual interest mean more than the accident of physical proximity. 3598

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209
Q

Internet-based connections can be broadly divided into those that link you to people you already know and may have met face-to-face (such as e-mail) and those that link you to people whom you don’t know and who may even be anonymous (such as chat rooms). 3600

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Q

e-ties to people whom you also know offline constitute a kind of alloy that combines the advantages of both computer-based and face-to-face connections. 3607

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Q

Like the telephone, these forms of electronic communication can strengthen, broaden, and deepen existing personal ties. 3610

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212
Q

One woman told me that she reads our lists just for the personal stories. It’s a window into what’s going on around her, and it provides a sense of connection and intimacy with others. That’s the common theme: What’s going on around us? 3679

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Q

Newmark believes that the physical proximity of the people who visit craigslist, the fact that they all know and experience the same metropolitan area, is crucial to the sense of community it generates. 3681

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the localness of the craigslist sites is what keeps them alive and growing and what makes it possible for people to feel a community connection online. 3683

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Q

The idea that people might be around is more important than actual face-to-face contact. 3691

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216
Q

Written messages lack the physical expressions and gestures that are such an important part of face-to-face conversation, clarifying and deepening the meanings of the words while adding their own unspoken meaning and providing an instantaneous response to what is being said. 3716

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Q

In face-to-face conversation, we also get signals we use to judge our contributions: 3719

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218
Q

Lacking all of the elements of conversation except the words, the exchanges of messages in the craigslist discussion forums are more fragile than “real” conversations. 3723

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219
Q

“when you overlay an electronic community directly on top of a physical community, that creates a very powerful social pressure to be civil. If you’re going to yell at somebody on the ’net, or flame them out, you may run into them at the grocery store, and they may turn out to be your neighbor.”5 3737

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220
Q

building trust and goodwill is not easy in the largely anonymous, easy-in, easy-out, surf-by world of pure cyberspace. 3740

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221
Q

“the culture of trust we’ve built is a really big deal. We have to re-earn that every day.”6 3743

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222
Q

However much craigslist may be a community itself, it unquestionably functions as a tool to create community by bringing people together, 3753

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223
Q

Created in 1985, the WELL was exhibit A in Howard Rheingold’s argument in The Virtual Community that electronic meeting places can be genuine communities.7 3757

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224
Q

The idea of paying to meet people is unsettling. 3780

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225
Q

communities generally define themselves by both what they are and what they are not, by the norms that represent common community behavior, 3786

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226
Q

William A. Galston, in “(How) Does the Internet Affect Community? 3800

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227
Q

“Internet groups rely to an unusual degree on norms that evolve through iteration over time and are enforced through moral suasion and group disapproval of conspicuous violators . . . the medium is capable of promoting a kind of socialization and moral learning through mutual adjustment.”10 3801

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Q

People started telling me that they felt connected in some kind of community sense. I used to be doctrinaire about definitions and I didn’t feel it was a community site, but I eventually said, if people feel connected, it must be a community. 3825

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229
Q

In the “all power to the people” era of the late 1960s and early 1970s, such experiments in neighborhood decentralization were not uncommon in urban America. 3835

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230
Q

in America in the 1970s and 1980s, as Putnam reported in Bowling Alone, public meetings emptied, local organizations atrophied, and “good-government” groups expired. In Portland, by contrast, in these same years civic activism boomed. 3842

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231
Q

Portland in the early 1970s was essentially identical to that in comparable cities, but twenty years later, Portlanders of all walks of life were three or four times more likely to be involved in civic life as their counterparts elsewhere in America. 3858

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232
Q

Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities, published in 1961, tells the story of citizen activists in Manhattan who headed off plans to extend Fifth Avenue through Washington Square Park. 3886

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Q

people here “trust government because they are government. 3900

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234
Q

Two things stand out about the Portland experience: first, the skill, persistence, and reach of Portland’s activist community, and second, the evolving capacity of public officials and government to respond and adapt. 3947

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235
Q

because the city was fairly homogeneous racially and economically, it was easier for many residents to think of themselves as members of one community and to avoid divisions along lines of race, income, and inner-city-versus-suburbs that have hindered efforts to unify other cities. 3976

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Q

you find in Portland “a remarkable number of people who think it’s possible to do things.” 4002

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237
Q

(During Goldschmidt’s term as mayor, the city established a blanket insurance policy to cover block parties throughout the city so that neighborhood groups would not need to apply for permits or worry about liability.) 4026

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238
Q

density of neighborhoods close to downtown encourages connections among neighbors, saying, “If you live close to people, you have to know them.” 4028

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239
Q

identifies communication as an essential contributor both to a sense of community and to community involvement. 4033

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240
Q

“Communication defines community,” 4034

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241
Q

how many people were watching TV, distracted by stories and events that had little to do with their own lives or their own community. 4039

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242
Q

A critical mass of citizens is involved, so involvement becomes the norm here, just as disengagement has become the norm elsewhere. Referring to The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell’s book 4046

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Q

people being successful at it, you have visible proof that it can be done.” 4050

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244
Q

community commitment.” 4095

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245
Q

listening to people’s stories was essential. 4103

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246
Q

the government learned (or learned again) that genuinely responding to citizens’ demands that they be included in the process was the key. 4119

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247
Q

More grassroots activism has (often through conflict) led to more responsive public institutions, and more responsive institutions have in turn evoked more activism. 4153

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248
Q

political scientist Jeffrey Berry and his colleagues found in their 1993 study of Portland and three other cities, “increased participation and stronger neighborhood associations tend to reduce the gap between citizens and their government, not increase it.”25 4156

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249
Q

For people who are less outgoing, community seems closed or actually is closed. 4180

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250
Q

A small plaque inside City Hall answers the question of how you get to City Hall: “By raising your hand.” 4200

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251
Q

“they’re not really residents; they don’t pay taxes; they’re not committed to the neighborhood.” 4223

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252
Q

the values of privatism.”27 4248

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253
Q

no one sets out to “build social capital.” 4255

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254
Q

The more neighbors who know one another by name, the fewer crimes a neighborhood as a whole will suffer. 4261

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255
Q

Society as a whole benefits enormously from the social ties forged by those who choose connective strategies in pursuit of their particular goals.1 4263

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Q

our hope is that these stories will offer encouragement and insights for anyone contemplating a “social-capital strategy” for his or her substantive problem, be it cleaning up a polluted river, improving the lot of undocumented immigrants, or attacking public corruption. 4284

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Q

social-capital building is demonstrably hampered by urban sprawl and by the increasingly complex schedules of two-career families.2 4296

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258
Q

neither public policies on transportation and housing nor private firms’ policies on release time for community service appear anywhere in our stories. 4299

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Q

Education itself is often the most powerful predictor of high levels of social capital. Educated people and educated communities have skills and resources that enable them to form and exploit social networks more readily, whereas less educated communities have to struggle harder to do so. 4300

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Q

almost invisible in the background—government policies were crucial to the substantive results achieved in many cases. 4316

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Q

misguided public policies can also weaken or destroy social capital. 4322

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262
Q

it helps to be blessed with “true believers” in positions of power: individuals committed to grassroots participation who will follow the social-capital route through all its apparent meanderings. 4336

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Q

interpersonal connections and civic engagement among ordinary citizens were essential to making participatory democracy work. 4338

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264
Q

We have discovered no simple rules for social-capital building. 4351

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265
Q

smaller is better for social-capital creation. 4358

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266
Q

Researchers have repeatedly found that social capital is higher in smaller settings—smaller schools, smaller towns, smaller countries, and so on.4 4359

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267
Q

One-on-one, face-to-face communication is more effective at building relationships and creating empathy and understanding than remote, impersonal communication. 4360

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Q

the more extensive interchange that is possible in smaller groups makes it possible to discover unexpected mutuality even in the face of difference. Small size also makes individual responsibility for maintaining the group intensely clear, 4363

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Q

Smaller groups also offer easier footholds for initial steps. 4366

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Q

participants sit and talk in groups of six to ten are the fundamental building blocks 4367

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271
Q

Gladys McKenzie says, “We don’t want to be pen pals. We want to connect with a face.” “They knew my shoe size,” Joyce Guarnieri jokes. 4372

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272
Q

it seems that the relative absence of face-to-face contact associated with the craigslist Web site limits the amount of real and sustainable social capital it can create. 4378

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273
Q

learning about other people’s lives through the site gives users a “sense of community,” but can this “sense” spill over into material support or helpful interventions in the same way that lunchtime parking lot conversations between UPS workers do? The evidence is debatable. 4379

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274
Q

The need for redundancy of contact to foster virtuous circles of mutual responsibility means that not only size but density matters. 4381

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275
Q

In sum, smaller is better for forging and sustaining connections. On the other hand, bigger is better for critical mass, power, and diversity. 4386

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276
Q

community building benefits from a sense on the part of participants that they are a part of something important and growing. 4387

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277
Q

federation: nesting small groups within larger groups.5 Small groups within larger organizations can foster the personal relationships that would not be so easily formed within the larger organization alone. 4396

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278
Q

This “nested,” federal strategy is especially effective when (as in Saddleback and All Saints) members can participate in more than one small group, thus weaving personal ties among the small groups and reinforcing a sense of identity with the larger whole. 4403

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279
Q

create a cellular structure with smaller groups linked to form a larger, more encompassing one. 4408

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280
Q

Organizational choices that facilitate “mixing” and “bridging” among small groups can harness the benefits of both intimacy and breadth. 4409

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281
Q

“bonding social capital” (ties that link individuals or groups with much in common) and “bridging social capital” (ties that link individuals or groups across a greater social distance). 4414

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282
Q

Social-capital strategists need to pay special attention to the tougher task of fostering social ties that reach across social divisions. 4418

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283
Q

Bridging is not about “Kumbaya” cuddling. It is about coming together to argue, as much as to share. 4420

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284
Q

confirm that homogeneity makes connective strategies easier. 4424

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285
Q

bridging ties are harder to build than bonding ones. 4430

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286
Q

(if your curb is my curb, your eyesore is my eyesore), might seem to have made collaboration an obvious choice there. 4436

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287
Q

Shared space may be a necessary condition for bridging, but it is not sufficient, as any observer of dining halls in formally integrated U.S. high schools and colleges knows. 4442

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288
Q

Birds of a feather flock together, folk wisdom tells us, but you don’t need to be an ornithologist to know there’s more to birds than feathers. 4458

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289
Q

“diversity” is sometimes a code word referring to racial identity and nothing else. 4459

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290
Q

there are therefore multiple potential dimensions of similarity. Groups that bond along some axes can bridge along others. 4461

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291
Q

Crafting cross-cutting identities is a powerful way to enable connection across perceived diversity. That is, bridging may depend on finding, emphasizing, or creating a new dimension of similarity within which bonding can occur. One often underestimated technique for creating new identities and bridging social distance, as well as for helping to create social capital in other ways, is telling stories. 4465

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292
Q

Using Stories to Build Connections 4468

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293
Q

Organizing is about transforming private aches and pains into a shared vision of collective action. 4469

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294
Q

“interest articulation” and “interest aggregation” (to use jargon from political science) emerged from carefully nurtured conversations among ordinary folks. 4471

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295
Q

Civic idealism can be an asset in community building, but creating social capital means recognizing people’s interests and needs (including their need for fun and fellowship), not just their ideals. 4475

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296
Q

Social capital is not just about broccoli, but about chocolates, too. 4476

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297
Q

Community builders need to start with what the participants really care about, not some external agenda. 4478

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298
Q

Stories help people to construct and reconstruct their interests. 4480

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299
Q

Personal narratives are a uniquely powerful medium for expressing needs and building bonds. People like to tell their own stories; most like to listen to others’ as well. 4483

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300
Q

Telling and listening to stories creates empathy and helps people find the things they have in common, which then eases the formation of enduring groups and networks. 4486

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301
Q

three different sorts of narratives play roles in building and sustaining connection: “I” stories, “we” stories, and “they” stories. 4488

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302
Q

Eliciting personal narratives can be an “easy-on ramp” for recruiting or integrating new members into an organization. By revealing vulnerabilities and creating empathy, “I” stories build trust. 4489

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303
Q

Finding commonalities among “I” stories is a powerful technique. Reframing individual trajectories as a collective tale can create the crosscutting identities that turn bridging distance into bonding ties. We tell our own stories, and through our stories we redefine who “we” are. 4495

A

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304
Q

At both Saddleback and All Saints, members of small groups are encouraged to share their “spiritual autobiographies” as a key tool for transcending differences. 4497

A

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305
Q

If “I” stories are essential to building new connections, “we” stories are equally valuable in sustaining those connections. Recounting how “we” overcame past obstacles and achieved unexpected successes reinforces shared identity and frames strategic choices for the future. 4501

A

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306
Q

Sometimes it is argued that collective identity necessarily implies exclusion, that every “we” requires a “they.” 4505

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307
Q

Having an enemy can help to create social capital. 4507

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308
Q

In Bowling Alone, Putnam reported that World War II played an important role in creating the “long civic generation.” 4509

A

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309
Q

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, trust among Americans of all races and ethnicities shot upward.12 4510

A

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310
Q

Community organizers from Saul Alinsky on the left to Ralph Reed on the right have recognized the usefulness of identifying an enemy. As Reed once noted, “It’s no accident that it’s called ‘Mothers Against Drunk Driving,’ not ‘Mothers for Sober Driving.’” 4511

A

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311
Q

Social capitalists cannot shun conflict. 4516

A

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312
Q

given the role that “enemies” play in many theoretical accounts of community building, we were surprised to notice that in many of our cases—the Shipyard Project, Do Something, Experience Corps, the Chicago libraries, craigslist, Tupelo—it is virtually impossible to discern any enemy at all against whom the organizers sought to rally support. 4522

A

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Q

in many of our stories, participants have forged strong bonds of connection without demonizing anyone. 4526

A

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314
Q

Real social change takes time—lots of it. 4527

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315
Q

Max Weber, the distinguished social theorist. 4529

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316
Q

Social and political change, he explained, requires “a strong and slow boring of hard boards.” 4531

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317
Q

Successful community builders in our cases, too, recognize that crafting lasting relationships and mutual trust takes time. 4532

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318
Q

Paula Rais observed, “You need time to meet, to get to know one another and trust each other, to let common issues bubble to the surface.” 4534

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319
Q

Building social capital is neither all-or-nothing nor once-and-for-all. It is incremental and cumulative. 4536

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320
Q

Rick Warren has built the Saddleback congregation one family at a time, working each newcomer through a gradual process of affiliation, moving steadily from casual visitor to Crowd (regular attenders) to Congregation (baptized members), to Committed (tithing activists), and finally to Core (those dedicated to ministering to others). 4537

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321
Q

The path to success through connective strategies can be long. This means it is all the more important to take aim at concrete, discrete, and feasible targets along the way. In the cases above we saw small victories—the 4541

A

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322
Q

Each small victory must be seen as a bite-size version of the larger vision. 4544

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323
Q

social scientists and historians recently have called our attention to “path dependence,” that is, where you can go and how to get there depend on which path brought you here. 4545

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324
Q

Because building social capital and trust is cumulative, social life is replete with vicious circles. Weak social capital fosters the symptoms of social disintegration, such as crime and poverty, and those symptoms in turn further undermine social connections. 4547

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325
Q

social capital where it is most needed leads naturally to the strategy, visible in many of our cases, of “recycling” whatever shards of social connectivity are available, that is, reusing existing social networks by directing them to new purposes. 4553

A

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Q

“All organizing is reorganizing.” 4556

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Q

ideological commitment and objective self-interest are less powerful predictors of who gets involved than are preexisting friendship networks.14 4563

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328
Q

“Find existing networks that can be recycled” is thus one important lesson for social capitalists. 4564

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329
Q

Movements that rely on that approach, however, need a complementary strategy for encouraging “walk-ins” and for reaching out to the socially disconnected. 4565

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330
Q

The path-dependent character of social-capital building means that in many ways success breeds success. 4569

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331
Q

Trust is a sociological breeder reactor. 4572

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332
Q

“development without displacement.” 4576

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333
Q

Tupelo, as we have seen, now grapples with the challenges posed not by poverty but by economic development. When people are no longer poor, the idea of shared fate (and shared solutions) is less persuasive. Mutual dependency is less visible and less urgent. 4577

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334
Q

A special challenge for social movements is how to sustain momentum through the inevitable periods of leadership transition. This is, of course, a classic organizational dilemma, what Max Weber termed the “routinization of charisma.” One key is to develop grassroots leaders with autonomy—not just a single general and a mass of foot soldiers. 4580

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335
Q

Part of the challenge comes from organizational fatigue and entropy—the difficulty of maintaining momentum once the excitement of early achievements is past. Part of the challenge comes from expansion and turnover, as people originally fired up by a unique vision are succeeded by people who have joined an ongoing enterprise. 4592

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Q

Creating Common Spaces: Urban Planning, Local Media, and Technology 4602

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337
Q

one key to creating social capital is to build in redundancy of contact. 4603

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338
Q

Common spaces for commonplace encounters are prerequisites for common conversations and common debate. Furthermore, networks that intersect and circles that overlap reinforce a sense of reciprocal obligation and extend the boundaries of empathy. 4604

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339
Q

Sociologists refer to this aspect of social networks as “multistrandedness”: how many different layers of connection do they unite? When you frequently encounter the same person at the market and the ball field and a political rally, your ties with her are multistranded. 4606

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Q

they allow participants to recognize affiliations they share with folks they see every day, opening the door to the conversations that can turn shared interests or common membership into personal connection. 4610

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Q

Urban planning, architecture, and technology can each foster redundancy and multistrandedness by creating opportunities for encounters that knit together existing ties. 4611

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Q

leaders recognized the importance of shared space for building community. 4615

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343
Q

(designed to foster common conversations and repeated encounters). 4620

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344
Q

Saving “inefficient” local post offices would have made more sense if their contribution to community building had been part of the cost-benefit equation. 4623

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Q

they provide a common space for common arguments. 4627

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346
Q

new communications technologies to be most important as support and stimulus for long-standing forms of community, rather than as instigators of radically new “virtual communities” 4630

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347
Q

Craigslist, too, is both a crossroads and a clearinghouse for a physical community: the greater Bay Area. 4634

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348
Q

Computer-based technology matters not because it can create some new and separate form of virtual community, but because it can broaden and deepen and strengthen our physical communities. 4643

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349
Q

Like plazas and parks, local newspapers, and neighborhood libraries, Internet technology could create social spaces within which we see how our numerous networks of interest and interaction overlap and intersect. 4646

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350
Q

Over the past generation, America’s communities have undergone profound social and cultural changes, which meant that as the new millennium dawned, we were no longer building the dense webs of encounter and participation so vital to the health of ourselves, our families, and our polities. 4651

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Q

suburban sprawl that bifurcates our communities of residence from our communities of work.15 4654

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