A Forthcoming Documentary Examines How Civic Life in America Is a Matter of ‘Join or Die’ — Colossal



Documentary
History

#community
#film
#politics
#social issues
#video

“That is Bob. Bob is an enormous fan of golf equipment,” the narrator opens within the trailer for the forthcoming documentary Join or Die. “And this can be a movie about why it’s best to be part of one and the way Bob found that the destiny of America depends upon it.”

Bob, or Robert D. Putnam, is an acclaimed political scientist who has deeply influenced our understanding of how society and authorities work. A professor at Harvard and writer of fifteen books, Putnam analyzes a swath of financial, social, political, and cultural tendencies utilizing a great deal of knowledge, heralding the thought of social capital, or the networks inside society that allow it to perform successfully.

Two-and-a-half many years in the past, Putman wrote the prescient ebook Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, a strong perception into how Individuals have gotten more and more disconnected from household, associates, neighbors, and democratic buildings. He tilts a mirror towards our personal social behaviors, and Be part of or Die posits that its significance has solely amplified since.

Directed and produced by Rebecca Davids and Pete Davis, Be part of or Die follows “the half-century story of America’s civic unraveling” via Putnam’s work and interviews with quite a few influential figures like Hillary Clinton, Surgeon Basic Vivek Murthy, and scholar Eddie Glaude, Jr. The movie explores provocative questions like, “What makes democracy work? Why is American democracy in disaster?” Then, it poses a name to motion: “What can we do about it?”

The challenge collates hanging statistics that Putnam has gathered throughout his profession concerning the unbelievable drops in collective involvement, reminiscent of a 50 % decline from the Nineteen Seventies to the Nineties within the variety of instances Individuals attended a membership assembly the earlier 12 months. Or a 50 % decline from the Nineteen Seventies to the Nineties within the variety of Individuals who took a management function in any native group.

“The locations which have higher authorities are the locations which have an extended historical past of social networks and social capital,” Putnam says. He provides in one other clip, “Group—connections with different individuals—is the solely method you get massive change.”

Try the trailer on the movie’s website. (by way of Swiss Miss)

#community
#film
#politics
#social issues
#video

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