Americans Aren’t ‘Bowling Alone,’ Report Says; Charitable and Civic Involvement Found Strong

DEBRA E. BLUM

This country’s social fabric is in better shape than people may think, says a new report on volunteering and civic involvement by the American Association of Retired Persons.

Americans belong to an average of about four associations or clubs — a greater number than previously believed — the report says, and plenty of Americans volunteer or help others on an informal basis. In addition, despite a prevailing lack of trust in government institutions, Americans say that they are interested and involved in political affairs and processes.

“Conventional wisdom would have us believe that we are a nation made up of disinterested, disengaged, and uninvolved people,” says Jane Baumgarten, an A.A.R.P. board member. “Our survey clearly shows that this is not the case.”

The association’s report, “Maintaining America’s Social Fabric: A.A.R.P.’s Survey of Civic Involvement,” was released last month. It was based on a telephone survey of 1,500 adults conducted in 1996 by the Center for Survey Research at the University of Virginia.

Among its key findings:

*Nearly nine of every ten Americans belong to at least one group or association, such as a social club or a parent-teacher organization, and the average person belongs to four groups.

*Forty-four per cent of the respondents had volunteered for a charitable organization during the previous year, and 86 per cent say they had helped someone in need, although they didn’t do so through an organization.

A third of the respondents report working with others to solve local problems, and more than seven out of ten spend time discussing local issues. Four out of five people say they believe they could influence the outcome of a local matter if they worked with others.

The report is the latest to weigh in on a continuing debate in academic and philanthropic circles over whether Americans are becoming more or less involved in charities and civic affairs. The debate was sparked in large part by a 1995 essay by Robert D. Putnam, a Harvard University professor, called “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital.” In the essay, he argues that Americans have become less likely to join groups — including bowling leagues — and that that trend is connected to the nation’s widespread distrust of political and other institutions.

The A.A.R.P. says its findings rebut Mr. Putnam’s dreary conclusions about public participation in civic groups, as well as other studies of American involvement in voluntary organizations.

The National Opinion Research Center’s General Social Survey, for example, has shown a declining number of memberships in volunteer groups, on average, over the past 20 years. However, that survey counts only the different kinds of memberships people have — not the total number — and relies, the A.A.R.P. report says, on an outdated list of types of groups.

Other recent reports have also painted a fairly positive picture of Americans’ involvement in their communities. Last spring, four such reports — prepared by the Pew Charitable Trust, the National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal, and some news organizations — were released to coincide with the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future, an effort to encourage people to volunteer.

William A. Galston, a public-affairs professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and executive director of the national commission, says the A.A.R.P. report, together with the other surveys, “make it hard to conclude that there is a crisis of civic disengagement.” But he cautions — as does the A.A.R.P. report — that the surveys provide only a snapshot of attitudes and behavior and do not establish a pattern over time. And, he says, the issue of civic involvement must be carefully parsed before conclusions can be drawn.

“We can’t lump civic engagement, political engagement, and social trust into one,” Mr. Galston says. “They may all display different trends that must be examined separately. There’s some evidence, particularly among young Americans, that the amount of political engagement is seriously declining, while civic engagement is going in the other direction.”

For the A.A.R.P., such distinctions regarding age are significant. The association’s report gives special attention to Americans aged 50 and older, who, by design, constituted half of the study sample. The report concludes that the great majority of people over 50 are deeply involved in and committed to their communities. It also says that if older Americans are given the opportunity and organizational support, they are motivated and able to do more volunteer work.

In fact, the report says, more people of all ages may be willing to volunteer than already do. While 56 per cent of those polled said they had not formally volunteered in the prior 12 months, six out of 10 of those people said they were interested in volunteering.

Free copies of the report are available by contacting the Research Group, A.A.R.P., Civic Involvement Project, 601 E Street, N.W., Washington 20049; (202) 434-6320, or by e-mail at civic@ aarp.org.