A Downturn in Civic Engagement

What is Putnam saying in "Bowling Alone"?
        Putnam's focus is on how the participation of Americans in civic engagement (voluntary associations, etc), has largely decreased since de Tocqueville was in America in 1830.  De Tocqueville was impressed at  how well voluntary associations helped our nation grow and how it helped democracy work in a civil way.  Yet now, less Americans are participating in these voluntary associations than before, and democracy is not working as well as it was in the 1800s.  Putnam's proposed reason for this is portrayed when he writes, "In America, at least, there is reason to suspect that this democratic disarray may be linked to a broad and continuing erosion of civic engagement that began a quarter-century ago."
      He uses the example of bowling leagues to further prove his point. "The most whimsical yet discomfiting bit of evidence of social disengagement in contemporary America that I have discovered is this: more Americans are bowling today than ever before, but bowling in organized leagues has plummeted in the last decade or so...The broader social significance, however, lies in the social interaction and even occasionally civic conversations over beer and pizza that solo bowlers forgo."  So, it seems as though Americans are still doing some of these things that they would be doing in an association...bowling, volunteering, educating themselves, etc; but they are doing them alone.  They key to democracy is participation...the citizens of America need to feel as though they are a part of a community.  This aspect disappears when everyone does things on their own, instead of in voluntary associations.  Putnam emphasizes that America should concern itself with reactivating the participation of its citizens in voluntary associations in order to preserve the well-being of democracy in America.