The Upswing
Author: Robert Putnam
ISBN-13: 9781982129163
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2021
- Date Started
- Mar 25, 2026
- Date Completed
- April 15, 2026
- Shelves
- Read Would Read Again
- One Sentence Summary
- A look at individualism in American society and how it has impacted social cohesion over time.
- Why I Chose This Book
- Robert Putnam has an incredible talent for surfacing compelling stories from vast piles of data that would otherwise be inaccessible and ignored to the general public. This narrative about Americans becoming more cooperative and connected is extremely timely.
- Lingering Questions
-
What exactly IS "self-interest rightly understood," anyway?
How do we get more people interested in having productive conversations of moral reckoning at a societal level?
What is the relationship between individualism, self-interest, and regulation? Who can be trusted to act on behalf of the self-interest of others?
How should society be organized and structured to balance individual freedom with shared responsibilities?
- Tags
-
information-dense sociology