On Saturday, October 21st , the Cupertino Odd Fellows concluded their annual Oktoberfest with a screening of a new documentary with an intimidating name, “Join or Die.” The movie follows the research of Dr Robert Putnam, a social scientist who, for over 50 years, has been studying the question of why some democracies succeed while others fail. His research has led him around the world and through history, and his findings have caught the attention of politicians and political scientists the world over. So, just what is it that makes a democracy succeed? According to Dr Putnam, it’s clubs!
“Social Capital” is the formal term he uses to express how connected a society’s members tend to be with one another. The more connected they are, the less likely they are to cheat each other, and the more likely they are to do random acts of good, even with people they don’t necessarily know. Putnam refers to this happy situation as “generalized reciprocity,” and it has enormous benefits for society.
But the key to making this work are the organizations, clubs, associations, fraternities, leagues, guilds, unions, congregations, etc. within that society. When people come together in these types of groups, they gain a new sense of empathy and community that has benefits for their entire society. It helps them become more active citizens in their democracy, imparts a sense of camaraderie with their neighbors, and gives them the courage to potentially run for office themselves. Leaders in societies with high levels of social capital tend to be more honest, and the level of negative polarization (seeing one’s opponents as enemies) is lower.
Unfortunately, as the documentary explains, what we see today is the result of having lost so many of those clubs that used to bind us to one another. Rising inequality, feelings of isolation and loneliness, hyper polarization, and governmental gridlock and dysfunction, are all highly correlated with the fact that so few people in American society today are willing to join anything. The effects on our society have been disastrous, and the effects on the isolated individuals have been terrible as well, as evidenced by the surge in overdoses, suicides, and early deaths in general. In fact, according to medical researchers, your chance of dying in any given year drops by 50% if you join at least one organization, as compared to people who don’t join anything.
After the movie, viewers were treated to a discussion with one of the directors, Pete Davis, where he answered some of our burning questions and we talked about how we try to turn this around.
And there definitely is hope! Because as a country, we’ve been here before. At the beginning of the 20th century, we were dealing with many of the same issues that are facing us today, and rather than give in to despair and watch our democracy collapse, we instead started turning toward each other, and away from the isolation and hyper-partisanship of the Gilded Age. We started clubs and joined them, in huge numbers, and in the process, we created a more inclusive and nurturing society.
So, if we want to start healing our country again, being an Odd Fellow is actually a good start! In fact, the movie both opened and closed on the members of Waxahachie Lodge #80 in Texas. Our Order brings people together, exactly as we need to be doing. And if we’re going to reverse our civic decline, we need to keep bringing people in, showing them that a diverse, caring community is a good way to live.
Because ultimately, the only way we’re going to turn things around is if we do it together. As Pete Davis put it, the key verb in a democracy isn’t “vote”. It’s “join”.
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