Saturday, July 03, 2021

Bowling Alone and the Condo Collapse

 My knee-jerk reaction to the condo collapse in Florida was to think of my experience with my homeowners association, where this is also true.

As nearly everyone who has ever owned an apartment in a large building knows, however, rare is the condo owner who’s attuned to this duty, and rarer still is the one who attends association meetings, let alone serves on the board of directors.

 And I linked it to Putnam's "Bowling Alone" book, arguing for the decline of voluntary associations and the development of social capital.  But the Atlantic article piece from which the quote comes argues that states, particularly Florida, have been effective in regulating the operation of condominiums. 

So I don't know what's true.  Are homeowners associations and condo boards modern examples of building social capital, or are they due to have problems because modern America lacks social capital?

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