Graduation Year
2025
Date of Submission
4-2025
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Reader 1
Prof. Ioannis Evrigenis
Abstract
This thesis examines the connection between social capital and politics in the context of American democracy. I begin by showing how society and government have been deeply linked since the political theories of Plato and Aristotle. I maintain that these philosophers conceptualized politics as a reflection of social conditions. Next, I demonstrate how Tocqueville builds on this tradition in his assertion that American democracy rose out of the nation’s unique equality of conditions and strong social bonds. With the understanding that civil society is crucial to American democracy, I then show how this fundamental pillar has been deteriorating. I present the empirical evidence on the decline in social capital in America in the late twentieth century, drawing primarily from Robert Putnam. As a response to Putnam’s findings, many hoped that the Internet would provide an avenue for boosting social capital in America. I will consider how the digital revolution has played out since these optimistic projections in the late 1990s. Ultimately, I argue that, considering the classical lens, the proliferation of smartphones and social media present serious challenges for the strength of social capital, and ultimately, democracy in the United States.
Recommended Citation
Kern, Walsh, "Social Capital and American Democracy: How the Digital Age has Created Challenges for Social Cohesion in America" (2025). CMC Senior Theses. 4031.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/4031
