The Decline in Civic Participation: Bowling Alone
By James L. Baillie

A major challenge for all voluntary organizations, ours included, comes from the steady decline over nearly 40 years in membership and especially members' active involvement in civic associations throughout the United States.

Bowling Alone, a book by Robert D. Putnam, a Harvard sociologist, is very helpful in understanding this phenomenon. Putnam has studied social capital (the value that individuals and communities derive from social networks) in politics and public affairs, clubs and community associations, religious bodies, work-related organizations (including professional associations), and informal social activities (including bowling leagues!). For example, in almost all professional organizations, including the American Bar Association and eight leading national professional organizations, the ratio of actual members to potential members ("penetration rate") has declined steadily since the mid 1960s. Active participation has declined even more sharply than membership. By all measures, overall active involvement in associations has declined by half since about 1965.

The decline in social capital as measured in the decline in membership, attendance, and participation in these organizations gives cause for concern regarding the health of individuals and the health of society. But on a more immediate and tangible level, it is of concern to voluntary associations such as our own. While membership in our bar association has grown over the last 40 years in every year except for one, the membership penetration rate has steadily declined. Penetration, which measures the percentage of licensed Minnesota attorneys who are members of the Minnesota State Bar Association, has declined from 68 percent to 63 percent over the last ten years. (Since the total of Minnesota-licensed attorneys includes many who are out-of-state or not practicing, MSBA's penetration rate among active practitioners in Minnesota is likely closer to 75 percent or 80 percent.) Attendance and active participation are not so easily and consistently measured but I believe all observers will agree that for our association, as with virtually all other voluntary associations, attendance at meetings and active participation have declined even more steeply.

What are the causes of this phenomenon? A large part of Putnam's book is devoted to analyzing various possibilities and rejecting many of them. "Busyness" (a lack of time) and the pressures of two-career families, which are most often cited as major contributing causes, actually are not the most significant. Putman attributes less than 10 percent of the decline of civic participation to these factors. Suburbanization and commuting contribute perhaps another 10 percent. Far more significant are the changes attributable to electronic entertainment, particularly television, which have contributed perhaps 25 percent. But the most important cause is generational change. For the long civic generation -- those born before or near the beginning of World War II -- participation has not declined. Indeed, that group has bucked an historical trend and their participation has not declined as they reach retirement age. But the "boomers" (born between 1945 and about 1963) and especially the next generation -- "Generation X" -- are substantially less active.

Putnam's book helps us understand the phenomenon and recognize that particular declines are not necessarily the result of poor planning or implementation. If we have a lower number of people attending our annual convention (as we do), it is not that the convention is poorly planned -- it is not. It is simply that our members are less inclined to be active participants.

It is also helpful to recognize that periods of rise or decline do not continue forever. The end of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century, for example, saw dramatic increases in civic involvement following a period of low civic involvement. A boom in "progressive" activities at that time led to the formation of many of the most successful social institutions of the last century, including the very professional associations with which we are most directly concerned. While large changes in levels of civic involvement are likely the result of societal forces, it may also be that the development of new institutions may be one of the causes of an increase of civic involvement. That suggests we might look to sponsors for the new kinds of community activities that would be attractive in our time and to our membership.

There seem to be some early signs that "Generation Y" will be different from their parents' and grandparents' generations. Rather than a continuing decline, there is some increase in volunteerism in recent years by the newest adult generation.

Neil Hamilton, a professor at St. Thomas Law School and chair of our MSBA Professionalism Committee, authored a thoughtful article on the "Bowling Alone" phenomenon in the March 17, 2003 issue of Minnesota Lawyer. He notes that professionalism, which represents a standard of professional conduct that is higher than minimally required by ethical rules, is conveyed by our culture, not our rules. Conveying higher standards through our culture requires the "social capital" interaction. He recommends "service learning" activities in the law schools. There is evidence that these experiences helps inculcate civic involvement values that endure for a lifetime. Neil is encouraging the Professionalism Committee to initiate some programs in this area.

Our Executive Committee has approved a plan to have a small group conference on the "Bowling Alone" phenomenon. I hope that will begin a discussion on this issue and will help us develop ideas on how our bar association can meet the "Bowling Alone" challenge -- activities that will appeal to the new social volunteerism of Generation Y and other activities that appeal to the boomer and X generations. In all of these ways, we can act to keep our association strong, a valuable resource to lawyers in all generations and a representative of the profession to the public.

JIM BAILLIE is president of the Minnesota State Bar Association. A shareholder in the firm of Fredrikson & Byron, P.A., he concentrates his practice in business bankruptcy and insolvency law and related litigation and business transactions.