The Upswing

How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again

By: Robert D. Putnam, Shaylyn Romney Garrett - contributor

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

From the author of Bowling Alone and Our Kids, a “sweeping yet remarkably accessible” (The Wall Street Journal) analysis that “offers superb, often counterintuitive insights” (The New York Times) to demonstrate how we have gone from an individualistic “I” society to a more communitarian “We” society and then back again, and how we can learn from that experience to become a stronger, more unified nation.

Deep and accelerating inequality; unprecedented political polarization; vitriolic public discourse; a fraying social fabric; public and private narcissism — Americans today seem to agree on only one thing: This is the worst of times.

But we’ve been here before. During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, America was highly individualistic, starkly unequal, fiercely polarized, and deeply fragmented, just as it is today. However, as the 20th century opened, America became — slowly, unevenly, but steadily — more egalitarian, more cooperative, more generous; a society on the upswing, more focused on our responsibilities to one another and less focused on our narrower self-interest. Sometime during the 1960s, however, these trends reversed, leaving us in today’s disarray.

In a “magnificent and visionary book” (The New Republic) drawing on his inimitable combination of statistical analysis and storytelling, Robert Putnam analyzes a remarkable confluence of trends that brought us from an “I” society to a “We” society and then back again. He draws on inspiring lessons for our time from an earlier era, when a dedicated group of reformers righted the ship, putting us on a path to becoming a society once again based on community. This is Putnam’s most “remarkable” (Science) work yet, a fitting capstone to a brilliant career.

©2020 Robert D. Putnam. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Excellent

Not easy to listen to without the printed version nearby, especially for the charts. I would say that I would never have gotten through the book without audible!

The Past is Prologue

This book does what few do - refuses to make bold conclusions based on limited evidence. No blueprints or definitive answers here. Just a rich conversation of varied and dynamic movements that shaped the nature of American culture.

In charting 125 years of American history where we have gone from an “I” society to a “We” society and then back to “I”, the authors examine how in economics, politics, culture, and society we have abandoned a more communitarian impulse for hyper individualism. But getting to WE again means not just looking ahead but looking back to how we’ve turned that curve before.

Foot off the Gas

I enjoyed the premise of this book as well as the many valid points not often discussed by other authors. However, Putnam does have the tendency of making bold claims about the recent past without providing sufficient evidence to back them up. For example, Putnam alludes to growing white opposition to racial integration since the 60s’ that manifests today. He calls this the “foot off the gas effect”, which implies that Americans have somehow devoted less effort to racial equality since the 60s’. Which is hard to parse given the increased emphasis on antiracism in recent decades. Apart from mentioning principled opposition to affirmative action, he never addressed how we exactly are taking our foot off the gas in this regard. In the section on gender, he also takes disparate outcomes and infers sinister motivations on the part of men. For example, he cites the often used and misleading wage gap statistics as another foot off the gas event. In addition, he makes a few conflicting statements about the role of childcare in the above wage gap. Bottom line, when Putnam says “foot off the gas” he is vaguely accusing society of a sin of omission or commission directly or indirectly causing the downturn. I do find it refreshing that while hyping up the past, Putnam refrains from being overly nostalgic for the days of lynch mobs and coat hanger abortions, unlike other authors. This book also exaggerates the role of libertarian ideals in leading to the “downturn”. As of this review, the highest-ranking libertarian official is a state senator in Montana, hardly an influential ideology in its pure form. My final point is that by exclusively focusing on the United States many of Putnam’s grander points are highly limited in scope. America is not a vacuum, and the “I we I curve” is very much a global event. Putnam’s arguments would be better served if he devoted at least a paragraph to the wider world. In sum, I agree with a lot of Putnam’s points about the last century, but if I actually posed them myself (in the way Putnam did) in my Poli Sci class, I’d be lucky to get a b-.

Subjective Facts

Contradictory, but interesting.
I was looking for the research and resources for word usage over time.

There is a path forward…

As we head into another election season, things may look bleak. However, it is helpful to learn about how previous generations combatted rampant greed, individualism, and polarization. The road ahead will be difficult, but there are lessons we can glean from history to forge a path forward together. This title is well worth the time.

Interesting theory of 20th century American history

“Bowling Alone” author Putnam and coauthor Garrett take us from the first gilded age of the late 1890’s to the second, current one, charting the correlated behavior of many variables, from income inequality to baby names. In all of these variables they identify a common, century-long waveform they call “I-we-I”: a cultural shift from self-centered individualism to “happy days” collectivism and back again. They use this thesis as a lens to examine trends in the evolution of economics, culture, politics, and race and gender relations, marshaling copious amounts of data as supporting evidence. While not without flaws - the concluding recommendations seem a bit naive, and the lack of any discussion of the relationship between America’s trajectory and trends in the wider world seems like a missed opportunity for improved understanding— it was, overall, a worthwhile listen, especially for people who enjoy seeing new insights extracted from history.

A way out

This is essential reading for anyone who wish for a more cohesive America. This would appeal to those who are open to learning and being a better person to help bridge the cultural and political divides effecting the United States

Book to be Read by Everyone!

As Putnam demonstrates exhaustively, our current state of political polarization, income inequality and rule by corporate lobbies of by and for themselves has its antecedents in the 1880s-early 1900s Gilded Age, an era also marked by strife. It was an era of laissez faire economics, social Darwinism and hyper-individualism. The US became a fairer, more co-operative polity because of the Progressive Movement, which instituted reforms across the board (except did not combat racism), giving women the vote, ending child labor, improving health. The Upswing lasted through the ‘50s ( the ‘20s excepted), then stopped. We went from a “ we” society of broad collaboration, less inequality and more collegial politics back to an “I” society focused on individual success at the expense of everyone else. Trump, the total narcissist, is the exaggerated epitome of “I”! How to reverse it again? Putnam isn’t as prescriptive as I wish he were, but his gist is: collective, collegial and broadly based (bipartisan) reform action, local, state and national. He finds hope in movements toward gun safety, health reform, criminal justice reform etc But he urges advocacy groups not to become extremist and turn off potential supporters. I think the growing political reform movement (check Represent.us to see) represents the new Progressive Era (which needs a better name because the label “Progressive” has been seized by the “woke” Left that can’t win broad support. For sure, America cannot go on as divided as it is. We have to bring back “we” thinking because we are all Americans and in this together!

Worth the Price

The book is well written, although a bit dry. I’d love for it to be read by today’s “conservatives,” but before that, it should be read by today’s “progressives.”

This gives me a little hope that we’ll start a new upswing in my lifetime, but the drivers of it will be Millennials and Gen Z. My Gen X fellows don’t appear motivated to improve things in this way.

Essential reading

Essential reading for those want a sober diagnosis of America's ills and how to treat them.