Americans consume separate media — recall how quaint it was when Bruce Springsteen sang about “57 channels” and thought that was a lot — and increasingly live in , finding neighbors that not only resemble them economically and socially, but vote in similar ways.
“It’s clear that Americans interact with one another, particularly from a different social class or income category, less than they once did,” says David Campbell, a Notre Dame political scientist and co-author of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.
Campbell says that with old forms of social capital — voluntary organizations such as Kiwanis and Rotary — in decline, people naturally to see themselves as less connected generally to society.
But Baker, a sociologist who teaches management at the University of Michigan, doesn’t buy it. He says that Americans may no longer belong as frequently to traditional social groups, but have found new ties through technology.
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