A leading Harvard professor has warned that Ireland and the rest of Europe could be facing dramatic levels of social disintegration such as the US has witnessed over the last 30 years.
Addressing Irish Non-Governmental Organisations and volunteer groups at a conference in Dublin yesterday to mark the UN Year of the Volunteer, Prof Robert D. Putnam said: "I think it's possible that some of the problems that America is facing might prefigure problems that European countries will come to face."
He and several other social policy experts expounded the theory of "social capital". Dr Putnam said the theory recognised that social networks and interactions had significant value, and declining social contact damaged social and economic well-being.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, addressing the conference, welcomed Dr Putnam's comments and said he believed social capital "has the potential to be a very positive influence in public policy development in this country. It puts communities at the centre of our debates."
Dr Putnam cited examples of the sharp drop in basic social interaction in US communities. "There has been a 60 per cent decline in picnic-going in the last 25 years, and a 60 per cent drop in people going to club meetings. The number of times people have guests over has dropped by half."
Dr Putnam said: "My general hunch is that most of the major factors that impacted in the US hit Europe 20 or 30 years after they came to America." Referring to the main causes, he described television as "lethal to social connections", and added: "Most Americans watch Friends rather than have friends nowadays." He said Ireland's television viewing hours were just marginally behind America's.
The Taoiseach acknowledged that many forces affecting the State's prosperity had also profoundly affected the ways we interacted. He included urbanisation, a growing acceptance of diversity and in-home mass entertainment. "If we only look at Ireland in the last few years, we can see the sort of dramatic change which can occur," he said.
According to a senior adviser in the Taoiseach's office, the concept of social capital has struck a chord with Mr Ahern, and his Department was the motivator behind yesterday's conference.