Robert D. Putnam on Our Civic Life in Decline

The Harvard professor of public policy on the decline of American communities. Click "Show more" to view both chapters. For more conversations, visit conversationswi...
Chapter 1 (00:15 - 43:21): Our Civic Life in Decline?
Chapter 2 (43:21 - 1:10:26): Social Science and American Politics
A best-selling author ("Bowling Alone," and "Our Kids"), and professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Robert Putnam is one of America's leading political scientists. In recent years, he has written widely on the decline in America's civic life, and, with it, our capacity for self-government. In this conversation, Putnam discusses his research on declining levels of civic participation in America and presents his interpretation of the reasons for it. Putnam also recalls how actual political developments awakened his interest in political science, and explains how social science might help us address public policy problems.