For a downloadable PDF of the press release, click here.

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The research under-pinning this book is a product of the five-year, £5m collaboration between the University of Manchester and Harvard, headed by Professor Putnam: Social Change: a Harvard-Manchester Initiative (SCHMi.). ‘Age of Obama’ is the first in a series of books examining different aspect of major contemporary social changes, which will include U.S.-U.K. comparative studies of religion, inequality, and the social impact of changes to the way we work.

SCHMi is based at the Institute for Social Change at the University of Manchester, directed by Professor Fieldhouse. www.manchester.ac.uk/socialchange/

For more information on Professor Putnam’s research on civic engagement, visit the website of the Saguaro Seminar which he runs, at www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro

For UK media enquires contact:
Mike Addelman
Media Relations Officer Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881 567
michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk


For US media inquiries for Robert Putnam contact:
Louise Kennedy Converse
Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America
Harvard Kennedy School
617 495 1402
Louise_Converse@harvard.edu

For more information on Bowling Alone, visit the website of the Saguaro Seminar at www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro

Graphs available:

• Growth at the grassroots: black elected officials in the US and minority ethnic councillors in England
• The growing proportion of African American state legislators who represent non-minority districts.
• Attitudes to mix race marriages.

The study draws on collaborative research by a distinguished team from Harvard and Manchester Universities, carried out under the auspices of SCHMI – Social Change: A Harvard - Manchester Initiative.

Under the auspices of SCHMI, researchers from Harvard and Manchester are conducting a series of US – UK comparative studies on topics such as immigration, social inequality, religion and the changing workplace. They are investigating what drives social change, how it relates to the wellbeing of members of society and the implications for policy makers – issues which confront political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic.