January 29, 2012
The Case for American Loneliness? One Solitary Number
Alison Yin for The Chronicle
Claude Fischer (right), a sociologist at the U. of California at Berkeley, argues that despite recent studies, Americans are just as socially connected as they ever were.
Americans like to worry about being lonely. In 1950, David Riesman warned that Americans were so desperate to please and impress that they couldn't really connect with others. In 2000, Robert Putnam fretted that Americans were isolated because they'd stopped joining clubs. Their books, The Lonely Crowd and Bowling Alone, were not only best sellers but sparked national conversations about why we're not talking to each other, proving that a dour thesis and a zippy title can
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