The Social Breakdown
The Social Breakdown is a research series that aims to generate renewed attention to the importance of social capital in the lives of Americans and fresh insights on patterns of social poverty.
Our relationships are valuable. What we do together matters. Unfortunately, community and family life in the United States has withered. The likelihood births are to married mothers, weekly church attendance, and being generally trusting of others all fell by about one-third between 1972 and 2018.
America is suffering from mutually reinforcing crises of social isolation, nonparticipation, and distrust. As individuals, this deterioration has left us lonely, resentful, and without a sense of purpose; as a society, we are wholly unable to locate the common good. This series is dedicated to understanding and reversing these trends in American social life.
This series is edited by Scott Winship, Director of the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility
Articles in the Series
Measuring Social Capital: Can We Tell If Some Places Are Richer in Social Capital Than Others?
What the Rise in Dog Attacks Signals About the State of America’s Social Capital
About the Center on Opportunity & Social Mobility
The Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility (COSM) conducts rigorous research and develops evidence-based policies aimed at expanding opportunity in America by reducing entrenched poverty, increasing upward mobility, and rebuilding social capital. In doing so, COSM is attentive to trade-offs, unintended consequences, the strengths of markets, and the importance of work and family. COSM champions personal responsibility and agency while acknowledging external barriers to achievement.