Religion As Social Capital

While Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone (2000) highlighted the notion of volunteerism, little attention has been paid to religion’s role in generating social capital-an ironic omission since religion constitutes the most common form of voluntary association in America today. Featuring essays by prominent social scientists, this is the first book-length systematic examination of the relationship between religion and social capital and what effects religious social capital has on democratic life in the United States.