2024 American Social Capital Survey

Disconnected: The Growing Class Divide in American Civic Life

American social and civic life was once defined by diverse clubs, groups, and organizations. However, it has declined by every conceivable measure since the mid-20th century.[i] Today’s Americans have fewer civic opportunities—that is, places, institutions, groups, programs, and activities in which they can experience community life.[ii] Americans participate in organized activities less often and join fewer community groups than they once did.[iii]

Relatedly, Americans have smaller social networks and fewer friends, and they spend less time with their friends, neighbors, and family members.[iv] This state of affairs has led Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to declare the United States is facing an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation.”[v]

But America’s civic decline has not affected all groups equally. Americans with college degrees often reside in communities with abundant civic opportunities and thriving civic cultures. They participate in associational life at high rates and have robust social and friendship networks.[vi] In contrast, the relational lives of Americans without college degrees have contracted dramatically—compared to Americans with these degrees today and without them in the past.[vii] Two institutions that were formerly crucial sources of civic connectedness for less educated Americans, unions and churches, are now more likely to serve college graduates.