Exercise 2: Social Change

Now it is time to expand your investigation. In a New York Times review of Putnam's book, Margaret Talbot wrote, "Within months, the 'Bowling Alone' thesis had generated an enormous amount of attention, and almost as much agreement. . . . Before long, though, a backlash set in, and Putnam's data began to take a beating, especially from other social scientists and pollsters."

Is community really declining in America?

This exercise will introduce you to the critique of Putnam's argument about social change in America and teach you how to produce and interpret line charts and how to recode variables in SDA.

A. Reading

(Re)Read Bowling Alone, Chapters 1-3
Read the reviews of Bowling Alone in The New York Times and The American Prospect
Questions 1-3

B. Learning and Practicing: Producing and Interpreting Line Charts and Recoding Variables

Learn how to produce and interpret a line chart for club meeting attendance
Practice producing a line chart for ONE of the leisure activities depicted in figure 22, page 105
Questions 4-5