A Confederacy of Loners

Netphen, Nordrhine-Westfalen February, 2012

A brief examination of voluntary associations in Germany provides a stark reminder of the changing nature of American society.

Voters throughout North Rhine Westphalia will go to the polls tomorrow morning to decide whether to keep the current ruling coalition of Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens in power, or to replace it with a government led by the Conservatives (CDU). While this election offers an insight into the mood of the local electorate during these turbulent times, a better understanding of the true underpinnings of German society can be gleaned from spending a few hours at the Leimbachstadion watching the Siegen Sentinels, shooting pool with the 'Magic Queue' at JoJo's pub, or by heading up to Dortmund or over to Munich to watch the finals of the German Cup.

Germany has a system of clubs called “Vereine” that allow citizens of the various cities, townships, and hamlets that make up the German countryside to participate in groups centered around a wide variety of activities. In the sporting world, these clubs range from well–equipped and internationally recognized organizations like Bayern Munchen or Borussia Dortmund, to local groups that, while nominally professional, serve more as an opportunity for interested locals to play around and maybe make a friend or two. Although most clubs are private they are also nominally connected to the cities whose citizenry they serve, a special status that has allowed them to multiply while still retaining a community-centric attitude and a responsibility to serve. These voluntary organizations form the backbone of German community, and, as a friend recently told me, instill a lifelong sense of belonging and desire to seek out group activities.

For generations, one of the greatest strengths of the United States was a similar desire within the American populace to congregate and form voluntary associations. It has long been argued by historians like Arthur Schlesinger that this tendency was a bedrock foundation for how Americans understood their place within their country. "I have often admired the extreme skill with which the inhabitants of the United States succeed in proposing a common object for the exertions of a great many men and in inducing them voluntarily to pursue it", wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in 1840, noting how unique this tendency was as well as the superiority of the ground up development favored by the Americans he observed.

Unfortunately, this tendency in American has long been in decline from the halcyon visions proffered by de Tocqueville. The United States is no longer the “nation of joiners” that Schlesinger described in the 1940s, but rather a confederacy of loners. This is a long term trend that was previously reported on by the Economist in its February 18^th, 1995 edition. The article, “The Solitary Bowler”, described the decline of membership in voluntary associations, what Senator Bill Bradley compared to “...fish floating on the surface of a polluted river”, focused on a dismal Harvard University publication which noted that while bowling had increased in popularity, the overall membership in bowling leagues had declined by 40% between 1980 and 1993. People were still participating in the same pursuits, and were participating at greater levels, but the importance of joining or forming a group seemed to have been deleted from the equation.

This trend has continued to today, with a recent study of communities in Iowa finding a major decline in voluntary participation in a variety of different kind of associations. This includes church, political and fraternal groups, and a finding that “small-town Iowans on average actively participated in about one-quarter fewer associations in 2004 than they did in 1994”. Interestingly, the finding also implied that most participation was shifting from active, such as regularly going to meetings, to passive, mostly financial support. This means that the main value of these associations, as a place for citizens to “[rub] minds as well as elbows”, as Schlesinger put it, is declining.

To many, this might not seem like a significant problem, but there could be major consequences in this trend. “There is a lot of evidence that our democracy is based on having citizens connected with one another,” said Pamela Paxton, a sociology professor and Population Research Center affiliate from The University of Texas at Austin. “When we connect with one another in associations we learn that our self interest is actually connected to the interests of others. That gives us a conception of the public good, common identity, and sense of common responsibility as a nation and as citizens. Any decline in that scholars see as potentially detrimental to democracy.”