Shaping Kentucky’s Future Together

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is not alone in the challenges its citizens, communities, and institutions face in these turbulent economic and political times. Our democratic and civic practices and institutions are the means by which we can address these challenges, but it can be difficult to maintain and strengthen these practices and institutions given the demands of the current political and economic climate.

One need not look far to see the deteriorating condition of democracy and citizen engagement in the United States, and there is plenty of social science research to confirm what we see. Robert Putnam’s groundbreaking book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community details the decline of civic engagement, and thus the decline of democracy, in the United States. Published in 2000, Putnam concludes that “Americans are playing virtually every aspect of the civic game less frequently today than we did two decades ago.”(1) The data indicate that during the first two-thirds of the 20th Century, Americans were increasingly involved in civic life, and that in the last third they slowly became less and less involved.(2)

Putnam considers a number of factors that help to explain this phenomenon, but perhaps the most important are the advent of television culture and rampant consumerism—cornerstones of today’s popular culture. Television has served and continues to serve as an anchor that tethers us to our homes—joined now by our computers, game consoles, and home entertainment centers. Putnam notes that between 1965 and 1995 Americans gained approximately six hours of leisure time in their weekly schedule and devoted almost all of it to watching television.(3) Husbands and wives spend six to seven times as much time watching television as they spend “in community activities outside the home.”(4) And this move to a more private existence impacts other activities. Even when we are engaged politically, it is increasingly through an individual act performed out of our home (e.g., signing an online petition) rather than a communal act in which we are face-to-face with other people.(5) In short, we are very private citizens—more isolated than we have been for a long time.

Another cause for the decline of civic engagement is rampant consumerism. We increasingly identify ourselves more by what we own than by our relationships to other people. Individuals increasingly are focused on the pursuit of wealth and the consumer products to which wealth gives access.(6) Little time may be left for engaging with one another to learn about pressing social problems or to discuss with neighbors the defining political problems of the day. The idea of working with our fellow community members to solve community problems might strike citizens as too time-consuming to be a reasonable option.

Television and consumerism have played key roles in this decline in social connectedness, and thus a decline in social capital—the resource that is critical not only to solving community problems but for creating communities where people can thrive. Putnam shows children are better educated, neighborhoods are safer, economic prosperity is higher and more equally distributed, children and adults are healthier, and people generally are happier in communities with high social capital—where people are more socially connected. In short, our social connectedness has dramatic consequences for our personal and collective welfare, and the deterioration of civic life does, as well. Putnam cites evidence that indicates the “younger you are, the worse things have gotten over the last decades of the twentieth century in terms of headaches, indigestion, sleeplessness, as well as general satisfaction with life and even likelihood of taking your own life.” While he cannot attribute all of these negative indicators to the “generational decline in social connectedness,” there are good reasons to make such an attribution.(7)

So a thriving democracy, which is only possible through the active and effective civic engagement of everyone, is not just a theoretical aim or good. It quite literally is good for us—good for our health, our individual prosperity, and our communities’ ability to thrive.

Let’s take it a step further. Putnam makes the case that the more social capital there is the more social equality there tends to be; and, the more social equality there is, the more easily social capital can be generated—a cycle that leads to stronger communities and healthier and happier citizens.(8) In their book The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2011), Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett draw upon an amazing wealth of data and studies to show that social inequality has negative impacts on a wide range of social and personal issues, including community life and social relations, mental health, drug use, physical health and life expectancy, educational achievement, teenage pregnancy, violence and crime, and social mobility. The important conclusion of the book is that these negative impacts are less dependent on a population’s average income (at least in developed countries) as they are on the disparity of incomes across economic classes. Furthermore, these impacts cut across all economic classes.

Addressing issues of inequality or injustice requires an engaged citizenry—it requires the contributions of community members who take the time to learn about the issues, who register and vote, and who work with neighbors and community organizations to solve the many problems we face in our towns, cities and state.

Given the critical importance of civic life to the vitality of our personal and collective lives, this report is intended to examine and better understand the current state of civic health in Kentucky. The Census now asks numerous questions about volunteering and political and civic engagement which will be explored throughout this report. In addition to indicator-by-indicator analysis, in order to help illustrate the bigger picture of engagement across the state, three composite scores were developed for social connectedness, political action, and public work. Each section of this report assesses where we stand now, shares a vision for where we want to be in the future, and offers recommendations for how we can move ahead together. Only an honest assessment of our civic health will provide us the opportunity to understand our strengths and weaknesses, in order to improve opportunities for engagement, build stronger communities, and advance our democracy.