课程独自打保龄球英文读书笔记.docx

课程独自打保龄球英文读书笔记.docx

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课程独自打保龄球英文读书笔记

[课程]独自打保龄球英文读书笔记

Bowlingalone

RobertD.Putnam2000.

Chapter3CivicParticipation

Putnam在《BowlingAlone》这本书中，力图从民情出发来考察和评价美国民主制度的运转。

他认为民主质量的好坏或民主制度的绩效，可以从公民社会的状况得到解释。

如果一个社会的民主运转出现了问题，从根本上说，那一定是公民社会发生了变化——如社区生活走向了衰落。

Putnam在对美国公民参与热情降低，投票率下降的研究当中，敏锐的感到，当初托克维尔描述的美国社区生活正在逐渐衰落——那种喜好结社喜欢过有组织的公民生活/关注公共话题，热心公益事业的美国人不见了，今天的美国人似乎不愿意把闲暇时间用在于邻居一起喝咖啡聊天，一起走进俱乐部去从事集体行动，而是宁愿一个人在家看电视或者独自去打保龄球。

在他看来，独自去打保龄球意味着美国社会资本的流失，造成这种现象的原因可能是复杂而不易确定的，但后果却是明确的，那就是公民参与的衰落。

《BowlingAlone》全书分为五个部分，第一部分讲美国公民参与的状况和社会资本之间的关系，在“思考美国社会变化”的主题之下，指出20世纪后半期是美国公民参与和社会资本逐步衰减的时期。

所谓“社会资本”，是指社会上个人之间的相互联系——社会关系网络和有其产生的互惠互利和互相信赖的规范。

他认为，作为社会关系的社会资本与公民美德，互惠信任，社会合作，集体归属感和集体行动有着密切联系:

社会关系对个人和群体的生产力也会产生影响;社会资本的性质决定了社会信任的范围，社会合作的质量，公民参与的可能性，进而影响民主制度的绩效。

社会资本具有不同的类型:

连接性社会资本，粘合性社会资本，兼容性社会资本，排他性社会资本。

第二部分是讲公民参与和社会资本的变化趋势。

Putnam讨论了美国社会网络和联系在20世纪晚期出现的衰减，描绘了美国人政治参与，公民参与，宗教参与，工作联系，社会联系，志愿活动和慈善活动，社会信任出现的变化趋势。

同时也考察了“小团体活动，社会运动与网络”这样的新兴的社会组织形式。

他认为“在20世纪的前三分之二，一股强大的力量促使美国人更加深入的参与到社区活动里，不过就在几十年前，一股静悄悄的潮流毫无预警的逆转了这个浪头。

在没有收到任何统治的情况下，我们在这个世纪的后三分之一渐渐疏离了亲友和社区生活。

”第三部分是在对第二部分所揭示的社会资本衰减趋势的可能解释。

第四部分是公民参与和社会资本衰减会导致怎样的后果。

第五部分是Putnam针对公民参与

和社会资本衰减这一问题提出的政策建议。

我选取了第二部分中的“公民参与”进行阅读。

Americansofallages,allstationsinlife,andalltypesofdispositionareforeverformingassociations……Nothing,inmyview,isdeservesmoreattentionthantheintellectualandmoralassociationsinAmerica.

——Tocqueville

ThesignificantfeatureofAmericans’isthattheyaremorelikelytobeinvolvedinvoluntary

associationsthanarecitizensofmostothernations;andtheyhavegreatcreativityinestablishingorganizations——theycreateamountsoforganizationsfromnationtolocal,fromserioustointeresting,andsoon.AsTocquevillesaid,theorganizationshaveinfiltratedtheAmericans’lifeeveryaspect.Generallyspeaking,thissamearrayoforganizationalaffiliationshascharacterized

Americanssinceatleast1905s.

One.Inthefirstglance

Officialmembershipinformalorganizationsisonlyonefacetofsocialcapital,butitisusuallyregardedasausefulbarometerofcommunityinvolvement.SowhatcanwelearnfromorganizationalrecordsandsocialsurveysaboutAmericans’participationintheorganizedlifeoftheircommunities?

美国人自发的社团总共有三种:

一是基于社区的社团，而是基于教会的社团，三是基于

职业的社团。

在第三章的“公民参与”一节，主要讲的是在“基于社区的社团”中，美国人的社

团参与有何变化。

Becauseoftheimpressiveincreaseinthesheernumberofvoluntaryassociations,eventakingaccountoftheincreaseinpopulationduringthisperiod,thenumberofnationalorganizationsper

capitalhasincreasedbynearlytwo-thirdsoverthelastthreedecades,excitedbythisfact,some

observersspeakthatperhapstoohastilyofaparticipationrevolutioninAmericanpoliticsandsociety.Andmoregroupsspeakingonbehalfofevermorecategoriesofcitizens.

Two.Infact——1960~1990

Organizationsthatdon’tinvolvetheirmembersdirectlyincommunity-basedactivity:

1.overthequartercenturythenumberofvoluntaryassociationsroughlytripled,buttheaverage

membershipseemstoberoughlyone-tenthaslarge——moregroups,butmostofthemmuch

smaller.theorganizationaleruptionbetweenthe1960sandthe1990srepresenteda

proliferationofletterheads,notaboomofgrassrootsparticipation.

2.Andrevealingistheincreasinggeographicconcentrationofnationalheadquarters.For

membershiporganizationswithlocalchaptersandsubstantialgrassrootsactivity,theyare

headquarterednearimportantconcentrationsoftheirmembers;Forthenation’slargest

organizations,theyareheadquarterednearWashington——thepoliticalconcentration.

Theproliferatingneworganizationsareprofessionallystaffedadvocacyorganizations,notmember-centered,locallybasedassociations.Thenewergroupsfocusonexpressingpolicyviewsinthenationalpoliticaldebate,notonprovidingregularconnectionamongindividualmembersatthegrassroots.

Thenewergroupsmostlybelongtothemailinglistorganizations,whichmeansmovingapen,notmakingameeting.Andthesenewmass-membershiporganizationsareplainlyofgrowingpoliticalimportancewhiletheydemandslittleofitsmembers’energiesandcontributeslittletotheirsocialcapital.Forexample,theAARP.ThenationaladministratorsofsuchorganizationsareamongthemostfearedlobbyistsinWashington,inlargepartbecauseoftheirmassivemailinglist.Ironically,groupinvolvementwithgovernmenthasexplodedatthesametimethatcitizeninvolvementwithbothgovernmentandgroupshasdiminished.

Thevigoroftheneworganizations,thoughtheyarelarge,proliferating,andpowerful（会员

数量等）,isanunreliableguidetothevitalityofsocialconnectednessandcivicengagementinAmericancommunities.

Severalillustrationsmayclarify:

1）Encyclopediaofassociations

Explosivegrowthoforganizationsclaimingtospeakonbehalfofveteranscoincidedwithdeclininginvolvementbyveterans.

2）Environmentorganizations

EnvironmentDefenseFund（EDF）——mail-ordermembership

Trendsinnumbersofvoluntaryassociationsnationwidearenotareliableguidetotrendsinsocialcapital,especiallyforassociationsthatlackastructureoflocalchaptersinwhichmemberscanactuallyparticipate.

对于全国范围的自愿社团来说，其会员数量的趋势并不是反映社会资本发展趋势的一个

可靠指标，尤其是那些缺乏地方分部体制以至于会员并不能真正参与的组织。

Sowhatevidencecanwelearnfromorganizationsthatdoinvolvetheirmembersdirectlyincommunity-basedactivity?

Organizationsthatdoinvolvetheirmembersdirectlyincommunity-basedactivity:

FormostofthetwentiescenturygrowingnumbersofAmericanswereinvolvedinsuchchapter-basedassociations.

1930s,thisperiodofhistoryunderlinestheeffectsofacuteeconomicdistressoncivicengagement.

1940s,aftertheWorldWarII,themassiveoutpouringofpatriotismandcollectivesolidaritywereredirectedintocommunitylife.thetwodecadesfollowing1945witnessedoneofthemostvital

periodsofcommunityinvolvementinAmericanhistory.

Bythelate1950s,theburstofcommunityinvolvementbegantotailoff,eventhoughabsolutemembershipcontinuedtoriseforawhile.

Bythelate1960sand1970s,membershipgrowthbegantofallfurtherbehindpopulationgrowth.

Onaverage,acrossalltheseorganizations,membershipratespeakedintheearly1960s,andbegantheperiodofsustaineddeclineby1969.Buttheseaverageconcealsomeimportantdifferencesamongtheexperienceofthevariousorganizations,suchastheeffectsoftheGreatDepressionvariedfromorganizationtoorganization.Theseorganizationalpeculiaritiesremindusthatbehindeachofthesemembershipdeclinesarescoresofindividualtalesofleadershipsuccessandfailure,organizationaltenacityandstrategicblunders,andthevicissitudesofsociallifeandpolitics.

Forexample,theParent-TeacherAssociation（PTA）.

Membershipdeclinedfrom1960sto1990sinfamilieswithchildrenundereighteen.ButsomepartofthedeclineinratesofmembershipinPTAisanopticalillusion.Parentalinvolvementinlocalschoolserviceorganizations（notallofwhichareaffiliatedwiththenationalParent-TeacherAssociations）didnotfallasrapidlyasmembershipinPTA-affiliatedgroups.

ThedropofthemembershipinPTAmaynothavemarkedthewithdrawalofsouthernparentsfromtheorganizationallifeoflocalschools.

Thecommonfeatureacrosstheverydiverseorganizations——rapidgrowthtothe1960s,

abruptlyhalted,followedbyrapiddecline——isasignificantpieceinthemosaicofevidenceon

changingcivicinvolvementinAmericancommunities.

Intwoimportantrespects,however,membershipfiguresforindividualorganizationsarean

uncertainguidetotrendsinAmericans’involvementinvoluntaryassociations.

会员数并不能作为美国人自愿参加社团趋势的一个准确指标。

理由有以下两点:

First,thepopularityofspecificgroupsmaywaxandwanequiteindependentlyofthegenerallevelofcommunityengagement.

Second,formal“card-carrying”membershipmaynotaccuratelyreflectactualinvolvementin

communityactivities.Whatreallymattersfromthepointofviewofsocialcapitalandcivicengagementisnotmerelynominalmembership,butactiveandinvolvedmembership.

一些人引用50年代初到70年代初所进行的全国性调查数据，发现这一时期全国所有组

织的会员都稳定增长，但是一些学者却质疑:

调查中措辞运用的改变可能影响调查结论。

即:

Subtleshiftsinthelensofoursocialtime-lapsecameramayhavesufficientlyblurredthesuccessiveimagesthatwecannotbesureaboutthetrendsduringthe1950sand1960s.

在Michigan-NIMH的研究中，他们也发现“美国成年人融入社会趋于下降”。

OneoftheMichigan-NIMHstudy’scentralfindingswasa“reducedintegrationofAmerican

adultsintothesocialstructure.”Nomatterwithfriendsandrelatives,organizationalmemberships,orchurchattendance,theyalldeclined.ThebestavailablesurveyevidenceisconsistentwiththeorganizationalrecordthatmembershipinvoluntaryassociationsamongordinaryAmericansdeclinedmodestlybetweenthemid-1950sandthemid-1970s.

Fortheyearsafterthemid-1970s,thesurveyevidencebecomessubstantiallyricher:

TheGeneralSocialSurvey（GSS）,theRoperSocialandPoliticalTrendsarchive,andtheDDBNeedhamLifeStylearchive.

（1）OrganizationalRecord

TheGSSprovidesthemostcomprehensivemeasureoftrendsinAmericans’formalmembershipinmanydifferenttypesofgroups.Accordingthedata,thenetdeclineinformalorganizationalmembershipismodestatbest.However,thisambiguousconclusionisdrasticallyalteredwhenweexamineevidenceonmoreactiveformsofparticipationthanmerecard-carryingmembership.Becauseoftheactivemembersinmostvoluntaryassociationsarecajoledintoplayingsomeleadershiproleintheorganization.,wecanusetheactivemembers’participationto

evaluatethecivicparticipation.FromtheFigure10,wegetthatactiveinvolvementincommunityorganizationsinthiscountryfellby45percent.Bythismeasure,atleast,nearlyhalfofAmerica’scivicinfrastructurewasobliteratedinbarelyadecade.

（2）Sur