Neighbourhood Houses provide genuinely free communal meals that facilitate social connection and neighbour acquaintance, at the cost of participants' time rather than money. Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone identified declining civic participation and social connection in the United States, a pattern now evident and intensifying in Australia. Australians are attending fewer community activities, volunteering less, trusting institutions less, and experiencing increased political polarisation alongside declining union and party membership. Social isolation and loneliness are rising, with nearly one in three Australians reporting loneliness and isolation recognised as a major health risk. Compulsory voting maintains relatively high civic metrics, but engagement frequency and vigour are falling.
They say there's no such thing as a free lunch. The idea? That everything has a cost, even if not financial. But I'm at my local Neighbourhood House, one of many community centres found across Australia, breaking bread with strangers and eating a genuinely free lunch. While it cost me time, what I've gained feels socially priceless: I'm getting to know my neighbours, something fewer and fewer Australians are doing.
In 2000, Robert Putnam's book Bowling Alone warned of declining civic participation and social connection in US society. Americans, he argued, were retreating from clubs, associations and volunteer groups the building blocks of community connection in favour of a more solitary existence. As Putnam put it at the time: We used to bowl in leagues; now we bowl alone. Although the prognosis was American, the symptoms were being felt in Australia too.
Fast forward 25 years and they are even more pronounced. Australians are attending fewer community activities, volunteering less and have less trust in institutions and democracy. Political polarisation is on the up, while union and political party membership is down. The personal impacts are clear. Social isolation is now considered one of the greatest health risks to Australian society and nearly one in three people report being lonely.
Collection
[
|
...
]