Monday, December 22, 1997

Home alone? That's not for the majority of us

Although one survey may not conclusively prove anything, a recently released telephone poll of 1,500 American adults does give a hint that, contrary to the fears of some, we have not become a population of loners, fiercely attached to nothing much but our TV sets and our personal concerns.

Commissioned by the American Association of Retired Persons, the poll shows instead that Americans continue to be joiners. The average adult in this country, the pollsters say, has signed on with no fewer than four organizations, usually including a church.

Volunteerism? According to the poll, 44 percent assist others through charitable groups, and almost twice that many pitch in for the unfortunate on a less formal basis. Political responsibility? One-third get involved in local issues, the poll notes, and more than two-thirds talk to friends and acquaintances about politics.

The report includes some countervailing messages - a majority of Americans don't quite trust their fellows, for instance - but the gist of it seems to be that most of us care about our communities and neighbors and do our bit.

That's good news. Communal involvement is crucial for personal enrichment, of course, and also for a democracy's survival; without it, we would rely too greatly on a government that would grow in its authority over our lives. And yet some social scientists have worried about its possible evaporation. A couple of years ago, a Harvard professor named Robert Putnam wrote an essay, "Bowling Alone," that said participation by Americans in group activities outside the home and workplace was in drastic decline. Mostly, he blamed TV.

Taking issue with such pessimism, however, were other social scientists, including Pew Research Center pollsters who found high rates of volunteerism in the land and Brookings Review researchers who claimed Americans were still joining associations.

No doubt civic life in this country is changing. This latest survey also notes the toll of TV, for instance. But assuming that the survey has captured at least some portion of reality, our civic life does not appear in jeopardy of immediate extinction. Most Americans still believe, it seems, that they have an obligation to the whole.

They would probably concur with the poet John Donne, who wisely wrote, "No man is an island entire of it self; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the maine."