Page 22 - Robertd Putnam News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Alexis de Tocqueville depicted America in the 1830s as a nation in which individualism was balanced by mutual association and common purpose. In a recent book, "The Upswing," political scientist Robert D. Putnam traces several such shifts in the American ethos as the balance swung back and forth between individualism and community-mindedness. Putnam calls this cycle the “I-We-I” cycle, a swing from selfishness to a sense of common purpose and community, then back to selfishness again. People’s opinions on where we are currently in this swing differ. Personally, I can see evidence for b...

A 4 Part Series To Tackle Race & Social Cohesion the first discussion will take place at 7 pm on Tuesday, April 13th. The events are co-sponsored by Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, The Berkshire Eagle and Berkshire Bank as this speaker series will explore forces and trends which are responsible for the creation of disparities and division that continue to plague our everyday lives. Participants will also present their input on this sensitive subject matter. Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick teams up with neighboring New York 19th District Congressman Antonio Delgado and Dr. ...

March 17, 2021 Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times The Biden administration appears to have adopted a two-pronged strategy to reduce the corrosive impact of hot-button social, cultural and racial issues: first by inundating the electorate with a flood of cash via the $1.9 trillion Covid relief act and second by refusing to engage fractious issues in public, calculating that deprived of oxygen, their strength will fade. The sheer magnitude of the funds released by the American Rescue Plan, the White House is gambling, will shift voters’ attention away from controversies over Dr. Seuss, wh...

Beings of Oregon: Curious about pétanque? Eugene has a club for that If you've ever driven by University Park in Eugene, you may have noticed a group throwing small balls around the softball diamond there. The game is called pétanque. The current version of the sport originated in 1907 in Provence, France. It is similar to bocce and involves players or teams “shooting or pointing” boules (metal balls) toward a target ball. “You have to be over 60 and have prostate problems to play,” joked Dan Claycomb, 68, after shooting a ball toward the target. His opponent in the game this day,...

Angst spreads in ‘The Lonely Century’ Even before the pandemic, many of us were suffering By Julia M. Klein Globe Correspondent,Updated February 11, 2021, 6:23 p.m. Email to a Friend JosÉ David Morales for The Boston Globe Last March, Noreena Hertz, a London-based broadcaster and academic, was just finishing her book on what she already considered “the lonely century.” You could say that she didn’t know the half of it — or that she underestimated just how prescient her ideas would prove. When the pandemic hit, the attendant lockdowns and quarantines only magni...