The review I remember reading of Bowling Alone contrasted its example of declining urban bowling leagues with the surge in urban soccer leagues. Commentators s

The review I remember reading of Bowling Alone contrasted its example of declining urban bowling leagues with the surge in urban soccer leagues. Commentators since de Toqueville have observed that Americans are remarkably strong at forming leagues and clubs around their interests. Some go away and are replaced by others. Isolating half of this process ("some go away") as some kind of indication of social rot is purely in the eye of the beholder.