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1、Bowling alone Robert D. Putnam 2000. Chapter 3 Civic Participation Putnam在Bowling Alone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
2、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。Bowling Alone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
3、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
4、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。 Americans of all ages,all stations in life,and all types of disposition are forever forming associationsNothing
5、, in my view, is deserves more attention than the intellectual and moral associations in America. Tocqueville The significant feature of Americans is that they are more likely to be involved in voluntary associations than are citizens of most other nations; and they have great creativity in establis
6、hing organizationsthey create amounts of organizations from nation to local,from serious to interesting,and so on. As Tocqueville said,the organizations have infiltrated the Americans life every aspect.Generally speaking,this same array of organizational affiliations has characterized Americans sinc
7、e at least 1905s. One . In the first glance Official membership in formal organizations is only one facet of social capital,but it is usually regarded as a useful barometer of community involvement. So what can we learn from organizational records and social surveys about Americans participation in
8、the organized life of their communities? 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。 Because of the impressive increase in the sheer number of voluntary associations, even taking account of the increase in population during this period, the number of nati
9、onal organizations per capital has increased by nearly two-thirds over the last three decades,excited by this fact, some observers speak that perhaps too hastily of a participation revolution in American politics and society. And more groups speaking on behalf of ever more categories of citizens. Tw
10、o . In fact19601990l Organizations that dont involve their members directly in community-based activity:1. over the quarter century the number of voluntary associations roughly tripled, but the average membership seems to be roughly one-tenth as largemore groups, but most of them much smaller.the or
11、ganizational eruption between the 1960s and the 1990s represented a proliferation of letterheads, not a boom of grassroots participation.2. And revealing is the increasing geographic concentration of national headquarters.For membership organizations with local chapters and substantial grassroots ac
12、tivity,they are headquartered near important concentrations of their members;For the nations largest organizations,they are headquartered near Washingtonthe political concentration. The proliferating new organizations are professionally staffed advocacy organizations,not member-centered,locally base
13、d associations.The newer groups focus on expressing policy views in the national political debate, not on providing regular connection among individual members at the grass roots. The newer groups mostly belong to the mailing list organizations,which means moving a pen,not making a meeting.And these
14、 new mass-membership organizations are plainly of growing political importance while they demands little of its members energies and contributes little to their social capital.For example,the AARP.The national administrators of such organizations are among the most feared lobbyists in Washington, in
15、 large part because of their massive mailing list.Ironically, group involvement with government has exploded at the same time that citizen involvement with both government and groups has diminished. The vigor of the new organizations,though they are large, proliferating,and powerful(会员数量等), is an unreliable guide to the vitality of social connectedness and civic engagement in American communities.v Several illustrations may clarify:1) Encyclopedia of associationsExplosive growth of organizations claiming to speak on behalf of veterans coincided
