Bowling Alone and the Media

After reading Putnam’s “Bowling Alone”, I agreed that social trust in the United States has decreased significantly over the last 40 years. Although there are probably numerous factors playing into why this decrease has occurred, one major factor that comes to my mind is crime and the media coverage of crime. In my intro to criminal justice course, a class could not go by without talking about the 1980s crime patterns and how it changed so many of the current policing policies and strategies. Although crime had been on the rise since the 1960s, in the 1980s political leaders and police forces around the United States drew a lot of attention to the crime wave, drugs, and the media coverage of violent crimes. The sensationalizing of violent crimes into large media spectacles and all of the T.V. shows about crime has put citizens on alert. This is not to say there wasn’t crime before or child abductions or other violent acts, but they were not broadcasted as much. If a child goes missing nowadays, amber alerts go out and every state in the country is hearing about the child abduction. This fosters fear in parents and makes them less likely to let their children do as much. My mom always says that it was so much different when she was a kid because no one was worried about child abductions and as long as they were home for dinner, parents didn’t worry. I know personally this was very different from my childhood activities, where at least one of my parents knew where I was at all times and with whom.

I know I have a lot less social trust than most people after working on co-op in a police department and seeing the criminals and what they are capable of. That is a real life exposure to crime, but shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, Bones, etc. all portray violent crimes as well as the real life stories. TruTV and 48 Hours Mystery all talk about real cases of crime and often start the show by introducing the town and how no one would have guessed this sleepy, small town could have a killer. I guess the question is whether social trust is down because crime rates are higher, or because people are more aware of the crime through the media. Either way, if people are more aware and have less social trust this may create fewer situations for crime, but reduce the cohesiveness of the country and social capital.