Robert Putnam, the ‘godfather of social capital’, discussed the impact of the decline in social connections in the US, as the RSA announced groundbreaking new research showing the significance of cross-class friendships in the UK.
RSA House was packed last night as HRH The Princess Royal introduced renowned political scientist Professor Robert Putnam in delivering this year’s Patron’s Lecture on why social capital matters.
In her opening remarks, The Princess Royal highlighted the fact that one in 20 people in the UK say that they have no close friends and that levels of trust – in people and institutions – have fallen dramatically.
“The RSA has always understood that social infrastructure is just as vital as physical infrastructure, and that strong communities built on relationships and mutual support are fundamental to tackling the things that affect people’s lives – whether that’s inequality, improving wellbeing and creating opportunities for all,” she said.
“I hope very much that this evening’s discussion will inspire us all to think about how we can strengthen the social fabric that underpins our communities and ensure that everyone, wherever they come from, has the connections to flourish as individuals.”
Polarised society
In the Patron’s Lecture, Putnam highlighted the growing lack of social connection across the US. He suggested that the US had reached historic levels of political polarisation, economic inequality, social isolation and self-centredness.
Author of the influential Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Putnam presented a series of bell curves covering the period 1890 to 2015 for these four measures. They each showed low levels at the end of the nineteenth century, peaking in the early 1960s and then falling steadily. He said that more recent data demonstrated a continuing decline.
Putnam, often dubbed the ‘godfather of social capital’, described this period as the “I/We/I century” and argued that the increase in isolation had been concentrated among non-college-educated Americans. “We were a collection of ‘Is’ then we became a ‘we’, and now we are back to being unequal, politically divided, socially isolated and focused on ‘me’,” he said.
“The only period in American history that has been as polarised as we are today is the period between 1860 and 1865 – that means the Civil War – so we are really very polarised.”
How you look at dollars in a corporation is how we look at touch points inside of our community.
Sarah Hemminger
Co-founder and CEO, Thread
Social connections: quantity and quality
Putnam, who delivered his presentation live from Boston, was then joined by a panel of leading experts and practitioners to discuss the importance of social capital. Chaired by RSA CEO Andy Haldane, the panel included Sarah Hemminger, Co-founder and CEO of Thread; Marnie Freeman, Co-Founder and Director of Neighbourly Lab; and Sir Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta and former UK Deputy Prime Minister.
Led by Hemminger, Thread helps young people in Baltimore build relationships that expand their access to new opportunities. It does this by pairing the lowest-performing students in the lowest-performing schools with up to four adult volunteers for individual support.
“The quantity of connection matters. The count of touch points between a young person in Thread and the four adults that they are matched with in a given month allows us to predict if they are going to complete High School on time. How you look at dollars in a corporation, that is how we look at touch points inside of our community,” she said.
But she added that the quality of connection also matters. Often as the relationships develop between student and adult volunteer, the process ends up being one of mutual support rather than a one-way process.
It’s knitting rather than God that seems to be the driver of social connection across income groups in the UK.
Sir Nick Clegg
Former UK Deputy Prime Minister and President of Global Affairs, Meta
Revealing social capital
The lecture coincided with the launch of groundbreaking Revealing Social Capital research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and undertaken by a consortium comprising the RSA, Neighbourly Lab, Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), Meta, Stripe Partners, Stanford University and Opportunity Insights. This revealed that friendships across socioeconomic lines have a powerful relationship with future earnings and social mobility.
Panellists discussed the findings of the research, which analysed 6 billion friendships in the UK among adults aged 25 to 64. Using anonymised Facebook data, it demonstrated that children who grew up in areas where people from different backgrounds become friends earn around £5,000 more per year as adults.
The UK research builds on a 2022 US study led by Harvard economist and Benjamin Franklin Medal awardee Professor Raj Chetty. It found a similar relationship between social capital and social mobility but also identified some cultural differences between the two countries.
According to Clegg: “In the US, you have a lot of faith-based organisations that seem to be really important venues for that kind of connection. Whereas in this somewhat more Godless country of ours, it’s sports… we are a country of hobbyists – it’s knitting rather than God that seems to be the driver of social connection across income groups in the UK.”
The most detailed social connection study in UK history reveals the relationship between friendships spanning socioeconomic lines, and future earnings and social mobility.
Political apathy
Haldane asked the panellists why the importance of social capital had not been acted upon by national political leaders. Freeman, who is leading the qualitative element of the Revealing Social Capital research through her role at Neighbourly Lab, explained some of the hurdles in the way.
“It’s difficult to measure social connections. Is it relational? is it looking at longer-term outcomes? To look at longer-term outcomes, you need to be in power for a long time. It’s really difficult to keep that level of interest. We visit these communities to see what’s there but also what is missing. It’s very hard to measure what is not there.”
Putnam said he was “doing his best” to get national leaders in the US to take the issue of social capital seriously, but added: “I don’t have a lot of clout in Washington today. Actually, I don’t know anybody who has a lot of clout in Washington today.”
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