View source for Putnam, Robert, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community

[[CATEGORY: Background]]
'''Putnam, Robert. ''Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.''''' New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. 

Strongly implicated in the decline of "social capital"—community networks—in 20th c. USA: the automobile and TV (see esp. ch. 13 "Technology and Media"); a threat to "social capital" in the 21st c.: current "electronic mass media, and especially the Internet"—but also "electronic entertainment and telecommunication more generally" (410). Additionally, see for an elegant overview of the social effects of the railroad, telegraph, and other technological innovations of "The Gilded Age" in US history, ca. 1870-1900 (ch. 23, "Lessons of History: The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era"). As of January 2015, there was a website: [http://bowlingalone.com/].