But then, Putnam and Garrett write, in the mid-1960s “the decades-long upswing in our shared economic, political, social, and cultural life abruptly reversed direction.” They have sharp words for what occurred in the late 1960s and beyond: “[W]e re-created the socioeconomic chasm of the last Gilded Age at an accelerated pace,” replaced cooperation with political polarization, allowed community and family ties to unravel and witnessed a “descent” into cultural narcissism. They acknowledge important progress occurred with respect to individual rights but argue, “we have sharply regressed in terms of shared prosperity and community values.” A long upswing toward solidarity in economics, politics, civil and women’s rights had stopped and turned downward.
The centerpiece of the authors’ contention is that “in the past America has experienced a storm of unbridled individualism in our culture, our communities, our politics, and our economics, and it produced then, as it has today, a national situation that few Americans found appealing.” They believe that, having weathered that storm once, we can confront this destructive individualism once again and resurrect the “we” they believe is so badly needed. The 1925-1965 period was one of building toward their valued, “we.” In this book, as in Bowling Alone, Putnam struggles with America’s history of racism and misogyny. In The Upswing he answers his earlier critics. Readers will have to judge whether he has done enough.
Putnam and Garrett could not have anticipated the January 6 riot in Washington, D.C. and yet The Upswing, in its call for “a shared vision of the common good” demands that we understand what happened on that now infamous day. The book helps by its use of historical lessons, yet it might have done more to provide a foundation for understanding the insurrection or the possibility of an upswing. How, specifically, is the Internet communications revolution affecting opportunities for building community and creating common cause in our different and differing sub-cultures? How does the current deep cultural and political divide relate to their concept of an “I” era and chance for a new “we” moment? How, in an upswing, would we deal with grass roots hate groups, of which the Southern Poverty Law Center states there are currently at least 940. What is the role that Putnam and Garrett contemplate of big money and dark money in any move toward a new “we” era?
This is an intriguing book about change and turning points. It will prod readers to argue with the authors who contend that the United States has done better in past decades and could/will do so again. Putnam and Garrett are particularly interested in climate change, which they describe as an ultimate “we” issue. They observe environmental activists pleading for a moral awakening to the costs of inaction and imagine that this might be the non-partisan movement on which the upswing might be built. We can only hope that the authors are correct and that a new generation of activists, in community, will re-imagine America and that they will not be the ones who charged the Capitol on January 6.
©2021 Jill Norgren for SeniorWomen.com
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