In general,
Americans are less trusting and feel more removed from
their communities. They participate less in formal and
informal associations and have low perceptions of personal
efficacy, that is, hope of improving their communities.
Scholars have sought to understand why this has happened
and have tried to identify factors that could reinvigorate
civic engagement. Some explanations focus on the decline
in social interaction through organizational membership
(Putnam 2000), while others have examined the changing
nature of social bonds across the range of interactions, from close relationships to distant public ties