Comparing Thomas Volgy And Scott Putnam

Robert Putnam's book "Bowling Alone" argues that "the quality of public life and the performance of social institutions . . . are powerfully influenced by norms and networks of civic engagement." Political activity, social and economic cooperation, and neighborhood comity are all promoted, on this view, by the interactions of individuals in their clubs, leagues, organizations, and families. However, the contemporary accoun

ts of civil society's importance are marked by anxiety as much as celebration. "Bowling Alone," as its title suggests, portrays a significant decline in our associational habits. Citing surveys that track levels of political participation, group membership, and even informal socializing over the past quarter century, Putnam argues that "Americans who came of age during the Depression and World War II have been far more deeply engaged in the lives of their communities than the generations that have followed them." His diagnosis of civic decline has become a subject of vigorous debate, not all of which is accessible or comprehensible to non-sociologists. If Putnam's diagnosis is sound, we must be concerned about depleting our stock of "social capital," defined as the "norms, networks, and social trust" essential to a flourishing democracy.

Thomas Volgy, the former mayor of a major western city, who is also a political scientist, contends that most elected officials are the very opposite of what the public thinks: honest, hardworking people whose real work goes unnoticed by most of their constituents and the media. Volgy has interviewed more than 300 elected officials—mayors, city council members, legislators—from all over the United States to offer a decidedly contrarian view of politics. He explores the lives and working conditions of elected officials at the local level— the area of democracy closest to the public — to show that officeholders are for the most part average citizens, not the slick lawyers or political pros we usually imagine them to be. Most are motivated by a sense of civic duty, and they often work for token salaries, yet once elected they give up their personal lives and fall prey to every conceivable brickbat of public and media outrage. In Politics in the Trenches, Volgy shows what really happens behind the scenes o

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