Professor Robert Putnam
Professor Robert Putnam, Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, who is renowned for his influential research into community ties known as "social capital".
Named one of the Guardians top 100 intellectuals of 2005 and a member of both the American National Academy of Science and the British Academy, Putnam charted the 30-year-decline of social connectivity in the U.S. and articulated the atomised nature of modern life in his book called "Bowling Alone".
The work has been the subject of heated debate among politicians and commentators — including Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, and George Bush — since it was published in 2000.
Visit Professor Robert Putnam's home page at Harvard University: