Robert D. Putnam

American political scientist · United States · On the map · Academics · Born 1941 · age 85

Robert David Putnam is an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics. He is the Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Robert D. Putnam is read about 184 times a day, in 32 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2018Karl Deutsch AwardAward2012National Humanities MedalAward2006Johan Skytte Prize in Political ScienceAward2003Wilbur Cross MedalAward2000“Financial capital - the wherewithal for mass marketing - has steadily replaced social capital - that is, grassroots citizen networks - as the coin of the realm.”In their wordsCh. 2Read the whole statement

“Like battlefield casualties dryly reported from someone else’s distant war, these unadorned numbers scarcely convey the decimation of American community life they represent.”In their wordsCh. 2Read the whole statement

“Serendipitous connections become less likely as increased communication narrows our tastes and interests. Knowing and caring more and more about less and less.”In their wordsCh. 9Read the whole statement

“The timing of the Internet explosion means that it cannot possibly be causally linked to the crumbling of social connectedness described in previous chapters.”In their wordsCh. 9Read the whole statement