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We Are on the Verge of Transforming From an ‘I’ Society to a ‘We’ Society
In his new book, Robert Putnam offers lessons from the Progressive Era
It might seem that America today has reached all-time peaks in income inequality, racial strife, and political partisanship. But 100 years ago the state of affairs was strikingly similar, according to Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam — so similar, in fact, that many are calling our current situation the “new Gilded Age.”
In the century since the robber barons reigned, Putnam says there’s been an upside-down U-shaped curve, from an “I” to “we” to “I” society. The trick now is to arc back toward the “we.” Putnam previously explored the causes and consequences of our “I” society in his 2000 book Bowling Alone. In the new book The Upswing, co-authored with Shaylyn Romney Garrett, Putnam looks at the often forgotten Progressive Era (1890s to 1920), when our country managed to become more successful and egalitarian — and offers lessons to bring American into our next “we” phase.
The takeaways from the Progressive Era, according to Putnam, are to start small — with “laboratories of democracies” such as public high schools. Another key is the role of the younger generation; Greta Thunberg, for instance, can be seen as today’s Jane Addams. And policies that were popular in that era, like “antitrust regulation, limits on political fundraising, environmental conservation, comprehensive public health insurance, unemployment insurance, and so on — are equally relevant today,” he says.
GEN caught up with Putnam to talk about racial progress since the civil rights movement, what our “I” society means during Covid times, and what will happen if the Democrats sweep the election.
GEN: What are the most significant parallels between the Gilded Age and today?
Robert Putnam: Great economic inequality, great polarization, great isolation, great cultural individualism, narcissism, and self-centeredness. But people have solved this problem before. We could get America in good shape again.
How does the I-we-I curve relate to the 20th-century civil rights movement?
