WEBVTT - Where Everybody Knows Your Name 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:24.236 Pushkin. It was a Thursday night ritual in the Santos House. 0:00:24.876 --> 0:00:27.596 Like families all over America, we'd settle in front of 0:00:27.636 --> 0:00:30.476 the TV to watch a sitcom that, from the opening 0:00:30.476 --> 0:00:34.276 bars of its theme song, really spoke to me. That 0:00:34.356 --> 0:00:35.476 show was Cheers. 0:00:35.596 --> 0:00:37.796 Cheers from before a live studio audience. 0:00:37.756 --> 0:00:39.836 Kind of like ten Pounds, a comedy about a bar 0:00:39.876 --> 0:00:43.276 in Boston owned by washed up baseball star Sam Malone. 0:00:43.316 --> 0:00:45.196 You've changed letters, no cants. 0:00:45.676 --> 0:00:47.836 The jokes spring from the ups and downs of the 0:00:47.836 --> 0:00:51.956 bars slightly oddball roster of staff and clientele, from prissy 0:00:52.036 --> 0:00:55.916 psychiatrist Frasier Crane to beer loving accountant Norm Peterson. 0:00:58.236 --> 0:01:01.956 I like drinking there north same. Oh that's too bad. 0:01:03.036 --> 0:01:04.916 I was just a kid when Cheers was on the air. 0:01:05.436 --> 0:01:07.956 I hadn't tasted my first beer, and most of the 0:01:08.036 --> 0:01:09.116 jokes went over my head. 0:01:09.316 --> 0:01:11.756 The Hindus believed that you led a good life. Do 0:01:11.876 --> 0:01:14.796 you come back and in elevated state like Colorado? 0:01:16.316 --> 0:01:19.876 Yet I loved Cheers. I fantasized that as an adult, 0:01:19.956 --> 0:01:22.196 I'd move to Boston and hang out in a place 0:01:22.436 --> 0:01:24.556 just like that, night after night after night. 0:01:24.876 --> 0:01:25.356 It could be. 0:01:25.396 --> 0:01:28.476 Very sad places some people spend their whole lives in 0:01:28.516 --> 0:01:28.836 the barn. 0:01:29.516 --> 0:01:31.636 Just yesterday, some guy sat right here next to me 0:01:31.676 --> 0:01:32.476 for eleven hours. 0:01:34.836 --> 0:01:39.356 But why did I love Cheers so much? I think 0:01:39.396 --> 0:01:43.116 it mostly came down to the show's theme song, taking 0:01:43.156 --> 0:01:45.716 a break from My life is tough. The song said, 0:01:46.196 --> 0:01:48.396 so wouldn't you like to get away and find a 0:01:48.436 --> 0:01:51.756 spot where community and camaraderie can fix all your troubles? 0:01:54.236 --> 0:01:58.796 Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your neck. 0:01:59.276 --> 0:02:01.516 Even as a kid, I understood the value of a 0:02:01.516 --> 0:02:04.516 place where you could be known and accepted, where you'd 0:02:04.556 --> 0:02:05.916 be welcomed among friends. 0:02:06.356 --> 0:02:06.956 You don't want to. 0:02:06.956 --> 0:02:11.716 Baby where you see it's almost all all as you 0:02:11.716 --> 0:02:15.716 don't want to be what everybody does. But of course 0:02:15.916 --> 0:02:18.836 Cheers was just a TV show. It was a fantasy. 0:02:19.596 --> 0:02:21.916 Deep down, we may all want to go somewhere where 0:02:21.916 --> 0:02:25.196 everybody knows our names. But those places are getting harder 0:02:25.196 --> 0:02:29.876 and harder to find. Many are closing their doors, and 0:02:29.956 --> 0:02:32.956 the ones that aren't shutting down are changing. Lots of 0:02:32.996 --> 0:02:35.836 local spots are becoming places where it's incredibly hard to 0:02:35.836 --> 0:02:38.956 see the same face twice, let alone form long term 0:02:38.956 --> 0:02:41.916 friendships with a bunch of regulars, which, as we'll see 0:02:41.916 --> 0:02:44.596 in this episode is bad for all our happiness in 0:02:44.636 --> 0:02:48.276 some pretty fundamental ways. But the most sad thing is 0:02:48.316 --> 0:02:52.116 that the same fate has even befallen my beloved Cheers Bar. 0:02:52.756 --> 0:02:54.556 What's the ratio of people who come here who are 0:02:54.596 --> 0:02:57.236 kind of from Boston versus tourists? Is it mostly tourists now? 0:02:57.556 --> 0:02:59.196 Oh, it's very heavily tourists. 0:03:07.156 --> 0:03:08.996 Our minds are constantly telling us what to do to 0:03:09.196 --> 0:03:11.676 be happy. But what if our minds are wrong? What 0:03:11.756 --> 0:03:14.276 if our minds are lying to us, leading us away 0:03:14.316 --> 0:03:17.116 from what really make us happy. The good news is 0:03:17.156 --> 0:03:19.436 that understanding the science of the mind can point us 0:03:19.476 --> 0:03:22.196 all back in the right direction. You're listening to the 0:03:22.236 --> 0:03:24.356 Happiness Lab with doctor Laurie Santos. 0:03:30.876 --> 0:03:34.796 They liked the intimacy of it. It's small, about seven 0:03:34.916 --> 0:03:37.876 hundred and fifty square feet, so that they were relaxed 0:03:37.916 --> 0:03:39.636 and could meet other people. 0:03:39.916 --> 0:03:42.796 Tom Kershaw is something of a Boston legend, and so 0:03:42.996 --> 0:03:45.876 is his bar. Long before Cheers appeared on the Santo's 0:03:45.916 --> 0:03:48.916 Family television, his Bull and Finch tavern was pulling in 0:03:48.996 --> 0:03:51.476 Bostonian drinkers from all walks of life. 0:03:51.556 --> 0:03:55.836 We had college professors, we had college graduates, we had 0:03:55.956 --> 0:04:00.076 construction workers. I remember one fella, Butchi. I think he 0:04:00.276 --> 0:04:02.396 kind of was a man of all trades. What a 0:04:02.636 --> 0:04:05.156 whot he was, and he was there every night. 0:04:05.556 --> 0:04:07.876 The Bull and Finch was inspired by the cozy pubs 0:04:07.916 --> 0:04:10.796 Tom had visited on trip to England. He even had 0:04:10.836 --> 0:04:14.116 the interior built in Britain and shipped over piece by piece. 0:04:14.796 --> 0:04:17.476 The tavern opened in nineteen sixty nine and was soon 0:04:17.596 --> 0:04:18.556 buzzing with locals. 0:04:18.676 --> 0:04:21.756 It was just nice people being nice feople, and they 0:04:21.876 --> 0:04:22.996 became good friends. 0:04:23.356 --> 0:04:25.276 And it wasn't just beer that was acting as a 0:04:25.276 --> 0:04:29.276 social lubricant. Tom had imported another pub fixture from England, 0:04:29.636 --> 0:04:30.276 a dart board. 0:04:30.436 --> 0:04:35.676 That dartboard was the melting pot, the entree into meeting 0:04:35.716 --> 0:04:38.916 people and becoming friends with people. 0:04:39.116 --> 0:04:42.196 The Bullet Finch quickly became what sociologists referred to as 0:04:42.236 --> 0:04:45.716 a third place. Third places are locations that aren't home 0:04:45.796 --> 0:04:48.636 or work, those first and second places where we spend 0:04:48.676 --> 0:04:52.076 most of our time. Third places are another space where 0:04:52.076 --> 0:04:54.756 people can get together for the sort of informal social 0:04:54.756 --> 0:04:58.276 interactions that make us all feel happier. And third places 0:04:58.276 --> 0:05:02.116 aren't just bars. They can be lions clubs, barbershops, community parks, 0:05:02.196 --> 0:05:06.356 coffee shops, rotary clubs, PTA meetings, or churches. To qualify 0:05:06.396 --> 0:05:08.436 as a third place, a spot doesn't just need a 0:05:08.436 --> 0:05:11.436 lot of people, but a lot of regulars. People need 0:05:11.476 --> 0:05:14.596 to have enough repeated connections and conversations that they start 0:05:14.636 --> 0:05:17.236 to feel like a community. Third places also have a 0:05:17.276 --> 0:05:20.276 knack for bringing together different kinds of folks. Their neutral 0:05:20.316 --> 0:05:22.996 grounds where nobody cares all that much about your income 0:05:23.116 --> 0:05:25.476 or background. There are spots where people are all the 0:05:25.516 --> 0:05:27.956 same as that great Cheers theme song put it, and 0:05:27.996 --> 0:05:30.636 their spots where the regulars wind up feeling happier and 0:05:30.716 --> 0:05:34.916 more connected. Tom in his dart playing regulars could tell 0:05:34.956 --> 0:05:36.876 that the Bull and Finch was a special kind of 0:05:36.876 --> 0:05:39.756 gathering spot. But what they didn't know was that a 0:05:39.796 --> 0:05:43.436 big change was looming. Because it turns out some television 0:05:43.436 --> 0:05:47.116 producers James Burrows and brothers Glenn and Less Charles, were 0:05:47.116 --> 0:05:49.916 on the hunt for their next sitcom. The trio had 0:05:49.956 --> 0:05:51.876 worked on a string of hit shows that were set 0:05:51.916 --> 0:05:55.036 in workplaces like hospitals and newsrooms, and they had just 0:05:55.116 --> 0:05:58.436 wrapped their Emmy Award winning comedy Taxi, which centered around 0:05:58.436 --> 0:06:01.236 a group of New York cabbies. The producers thought a 0:06:01.276 --> 0:06:04.236 third place, namely a neighborhood bar, would be the perfect 0:06:04.316 --> 0:06:07.316 venue for their new show, and Boston seemed like the 0:06:07.356 --> 0:06:10.716 ideal setting. The city's unusual mix so blue collar workers 0:06:10.716 --> 0:06:13.996 and nerdy academic types hadn't yet been featured on a sitcom. 0:06:14.156 --> 0:06:16.676 The new show would be filmed on a Hollywood soundstage, 0:06:17.036 --> 0:06:19.356 but the producers wanted to find a real life bar 0:06:19.516 --> 0:06:22.596 for the exterior shots, so they grabbed a Yellow Pages, 0:06:22.796 --> 0:06:25.316 went down the list of Boston bars and spotted a 0:06:25.316 --> 0:06:28.556 big ad for the Bull and Finch. One morning, two 0:06:28.556 --> 0:06:32.076 strangers from Hollywood were waiting outside when Tom's bar manager 0:06:32.276 --> 0:06:33.756 arrived at work. Can we come in? 0:06:33.836 --> 0:06:36.156 He said, sure, I'm hoping the business. They walked in, 0:06:36.596 --> 0:06:40.516 they looked around, looked at each other and said, this 0:06:40.596 --> 0:06:43.916 is it. They went to the pay phone and called 0:06:43.956 --> 0:06:46.196 their mates and jey, eureka, we have found it. 0:06:46.396 --> 0:06:48.756 The outside of the pub was perfect, but it was 0:06:48.796 --> 0:06:51.316 what was going on inside that really matched what the 0:06:51.356 --> 0:06:54.596 producers wanted for their new show. The clientele at the 0:06:54.596 --> 0:06:57.436 Bull and Finch was the exact oddball mix the writers 0:06:57.476 --> 0:06:58.076 were looking for. 0:06:58.636 --> 0:07:01.836 You know, he had Norm and Cliff and Carla and 0:07:01.876 --> 0:07:04.156 the other had you had Frazier Lilith. 0:07:04.356 --> 0:07:06.676 So did the character seem to map onto any of 0:07:06.676 --> 0:07:07.716 the actual regulars? 0:07:07.716 --> 0:07:11.236 And ye, absolutely we had Fred or that's Susie or 0:07:11.236 --> 0:07:14.196 that's you know whatever. Yeah, we played that game as 0:07:14.276 --> 0:07:16.436 to who was the characters they copied. 0:07:17.476 --> 0:07:19.916 Tom's a graduate of Harvard Business School, so he can 0:07:19.956 --> 0:07:22.796 spot a good deal for allowing his bar to feature 0:07:22.796 --> 0:07:25.396 in Cheers. He was paid just a dollar, but he 0:07:25.516 --> 0:07:28.356 soon made a fortune from the publicity surrounding the show 0:07:28.876 --> 0:07:31.956 and from selling Cheers merchandise to the fans who flocked 0:07:31.956 --> 0:07:34.836 to drink in his now world famous pub. So how 0:07:34.836 --> 0:07:36.036 many people come here a year? 0:07:36.396 --> 0:07:38.916 You knows, a just thousands of people, that's not millions. 0:07:39.276 --> 0:07:41.756 But the problem is you can't be one of Boston's 0:07:41.796 --> 0:07:45.436 top tourist attractions and a place where everybody knows your name. 0:07:46.036 --> 0:07:49.356 The regulars don't come so regularly anymore. And if someone 0:07:49.396 --> 0:07:51.356 does know your name at the Bull and Finch today, 0:07:51.716 --> 0:07:54.556 it's probably a gag that the staff are playing along with. 0:07:54.916 --> 0:07:57.516 We have people that come and say I have a 0:07:57.556 --> 0:08:01.156 friend coming. His name's Fred. When you walk in the door, 0:08:01.516 --> 0:08:02.836 can't wait, say hi, I've Fred. 0:08:04.156 --> 0:08:04.916 People love it. 0:08:05.316 --> 0:08:08.156 Thomas thrilled that his pub has become more profitable than ever, 0:08:08.716 --> 0:08:11.716 especially a time when so many similar businesses have closed 0:08:11.756 --> 0:08:14.516 their doors. But the Bull and Finch isn't the home 0:08:14.556 --> 0:08:15.796 away from home it used to be. 0:08:16.396 --> 0:08:21.196 Times change, people's attitudes, change people's needs, change the neighborhoods 0:08:21.236 --> 0:08:25.756 themselves change. The business is a very dynamic business, and 0:08:25.796 --> 0:08:29.436 what's popular today could be unbopyar tomorrow. 0:08:29.956 --> 0:08:32.156 I started with the story of Cheers, not because this 0:08:32.276 --> 0:08:35.196 is an episode about the mixed fortunes of the tavern business, 0:08:35.396 --> 0:08:37.636 but because research shows that what happened to the bar 0:08:37.756 --> 0:08:41.036 I fantasized about as a kid isn't unique. Lots of 0:08:41.076 --> 0:08:42.636 third places are in trouble. 0:08:42.956 --> 0:08:45.516 I'm born on nineteen forty one, so I'm pre boomer. 0:08:45.876 --> 0:08:49.076 It takes pretty old people to be able to recognize 0:08:49.076 --> 0:08:49.516 the cycle. 0:08:49.836 --> 0:08:52.996 Political scientist Robert Putnam has been keeping a close eye 0:08:52.996 --> 0:08:56.116 on the decline of third places. He started noticing their 0:08:56.116 --> 0:08:58.596 demise in his own community thanks to his wife and 0:08:58.636 --> 0:09:00.076 collaborator Rosemary. 0:09:00.556 --> 0:09:02.676 One breakfast, she put the gloves and globe on the 0:09:02.716 --> 0:09:06.356 table and say, look at this. Apparently they're having trouble 0:09:06.396 --> 0:09:09.756 getting enough people to go to the PGA. Now in someplace, 0:09:09.756 --> 0:09:13.276 I've forgotten bill record or god knows where, and she said, so, 0:09:13.916 --> 0:09:14.836 what's happened to that? 0:09:15.276 --> 0:09:18.636 But Robert wasn't worried about school governance. His real concern 0:09:18.916 --> 0:09:21.316 was that skipping the PTA meetings to work late or 0:09:21.356 --> 0:09:24.636 bing something on Netflix was affecting our happiness and connection. 0:09:25.316 --> 0:09:28.116 One of the things that's shocking is if you ask 0:09:28.196 --> 0:09:32.236 people what makes them happy, everybody says it's my family 0:09:32.276 --> 0:09:34.596 and my friends and neighbors. I mean it just hands down. 0:09:34.676 --> 0:09:36.636 Nobody says, what makes me happy is my buick. 0:09:37.316 --> 0:09:40.156 And Robert should know. He's now in his mid eighties 0:09:40.436 --> 0:09:42.916 and remembers how things were when he was growing up 0:09:42.916 --> 0:09:46.436 in Port Clinton, Ohio. Back then, Little Bobby Putnam was 0:09:46.476 --> 0:09:49.596 surrounded by third places where people mingled day in and 0:09:49.716 --> 0:09:50.156 day out. 0:09:50.516 --> 0:09:53.476 My dad every morning went to a diner in town 0:09:53.676 --> 0:09:56.516 to have breakfast. It was called the Breakfast Club, and 0:09:56.596 --> 0:10:00.116 it was, you know, sort of a cross section one 0:10:00.156 --> 0:10:02.556 of the richest people in town, although none of us 0:10:02.636 --> 0:10:04.396 knew that was in that group. 0:10:05.476 --> 0:10:08.516 Robert also found his own favorite third place, but it 0:10:08.556 --> 0:10:12.596 wasn't a diyner or a bar. It was a bowling alley. 0:10:12.996 --> 0:10:14.916 In junior high school, I was part of a five 0:10:14.956 --> 0:10:17.556 men bowling team, and we did pretty well. 0:10:17.556 --> 0:10:19.756 We were not great, but bawling a three hundred game 0:10:19.876 --> 0:10:22.556 wasn't really the point of hitting the lanes. Being on 0:10:22.636 --> 0:10:26.276 the team allowed people from different identities to connect. At 0:10:26.276 --> 0:10:29.476 the time, Port Clinton, just like many neighborhoods across America, 0:10:29.916 --> 0:10:31.636 was divided along racial lines. 0:10:31.996 --> 0:10:34.596 So I don't want to say this was nirvana. It wasn't. 0:10:35.116 --> 0:10:37.396 But just like his dad ate breakfast with the town's 0:10:37.476 --> 0:10:40.396 richest man, Robert's time at the bowling alley was spent 0:10:40.476 --> 0:10:42.676 crossing the societal divides of the time. 0:10:42.836 --> 0:10:45.956 And there's a picture that shows the team which is 0:10:46.476 --> 0:10:49.676 three white guys, one tall, gangly guy in the middle 0:10:49.716 --> 0:10:53.236 which was me, and two black guys. And we did 0:10:53.276 --> 0:10:55.396 not think that was strange. 0:10:55.236 --> 0:10:58.196 That Robert says was the power of third places, But 0:10:58.276 --> 0:11:00.796 it was a power that people back then took for Granted, 0:11:01.116 --> 0:11:01.676 I didn't know a. 0:11:01.716 --> 0:11:04.356 Special and I don't think it was all that special 0:11:04.396 --> 0:11:05.796 in America in the middle of. 0:11:05.796 --> 0:11:08.916 Nineteen fifties, But today's science shows that local hangouts like 0:11:08.916 --> 0:11:13.036 these were incredibly special. Research shows that the abundance of 0:11:13.076 --> 0:11:17.076 third places Robert enjoyed not only promoted personal happiness, but 0:11:17.116 --> 0:11:19.996 produced neighborhoods that were better run, more fun to live in, 0:11:20.196 --> 0:11:23.676 and even safer. We'll hear why when the Happiness Lab 0:11:23.676 --> 0:11:24.836 returns from the break. 0:11:31.876 --> 0:11:36.436 Giuseppe had a fictitious younger brother who wanted to become 0:11:36.436 --> 0:11:39.436 an automachetic and he wanted to get the form so 0:11:39.476 --> 0:11:42.996 that they could apply for a subsidy for automachetic school. 0:11:43.396 --> 0:11:46.316 Back in the late eighties, political scientist Robert Putnam was 0:11:46.356 --> 0:11:50.556 engaging in some mild academic subterfuge. Robert was interested in 0:11:50.596 --> 0:11:53.596 why some governments worked well while others didn't, so he 0:11:53.636 --> 0:11:55.956 set up a new study in Italy. He wanted to 0:11:55.996 --> 0:11:58.516 know why it was easier to access healthcare or enroll 0:11:58.556 --> 0:12:01.276 a child in kindergarten in some towns but not others. 0:12:01.636 --> 0:12:05.236 So he created fake Italian characters like Dsceppe and had 0:12:05.236 --> 0:12:09.076 them navigate the bureaucracy of different regions. For example, how 0:12:09.116 --> 0:12:11.556 how long would it take Guceppe's equally made up brother 0:12:11.756 --> 0:12:14.036 to successfully apply for vocational training? 0:12:14.436 --> 0:12:16.436 And then we counted how long did it take until 0:12:16.516 --> 0:12:18.636 we got back the forms if we got back almost 0:12:18.636 --> 0:12:22.476 never did we get the forms back, So then Giuseppe 0:12:22.636 --> 0:12:24.476 picked up the phone, and then we counted to how 0:12:24.516 --> 0:12:28.516 many different people was a telephone call passed until at 0:12:28.596 --> 0:12:30.996 last someone would say they were the right person. 0:12:31.436 --> 0:12:34.636 Italy back then was a land of extremes. Some areas 0:12:34.636 --> 0:12:38.236 were ruled by conservatives, others by communists. Some areas were 0:12:38.316 --> 0:12:40.036 rich while others were decidedly not. 0:12:40.556 --> 0:12:44.676 The Solvidly at that point, economically looked like Nicaragua or 0:12:44.836 --> 0:12:48.116 Syria or something pretty undeveloped, pretty poor, and the northern 0:12:48.156 --> 0:12:52.036 regions looked like Holland or Sweden or someplace. 0:12:52.236 --> 0:12:55.236 But new reforms began better balancing how the different regions 0:12:55.236 --> 0:12:58.636 in Italy were governed, and Robert was super excited about 0:12:58.636 --> 0:13:02.116 these changes. These changes allowed Robert to directly test the 0:13:02.196 --> 0:13:05.716 role that culture, wealth, and history played in a government's effectiveness. 0:13:05.916 --> 0:13:09.836 The first thing we found was that richer regions were 0:13:10.276 --> 0:13:12.596 better governed than poor regions, and we thought that makes 0:13:12.636 --> 0:13:15.756 sense because the richer region is going to afford computers 0:13:15.836 --> 0:13:17.556 and more talented people, and saw it. 0:13:17.876 --> 0:13:20.756 But Robert also found that wealth wasn't the whole story. 0:13:20.876 --> 0:13:23.836 We had many different ideas, many hypolsitis about what the 0:13:23.876 --> 0:13:26.916 secret ingredient might be. It might be politics, it might 0:13:26.956 --> 0:13:28.996 be I don't know. Lots of different things, but we 0:13:29.156 --> 0:13:32.436 never guessed what turned out to be the best predictor. 0:13:32.796 --> 0:13:33.676 You can see I'm. 0:13:33.836 --> 0:13:35.516 Enjoying this, I know, edge of the sea. 0:13:35.676 --> 0:13:37.556 Come on. Choral societies. 0:13:41.636 --> 0:13:47.076 That's right, choral societies those groups of people who get 0:13:47.116 --> 0:13:50.956 together regularly to sing in choirs. Robert found that regions 0:13:50.956 --> 0:13:53.276 with more of these groups were the ones whose governments 0:13:53.316 --> 0:13:58.956 ran most efficiently. Now, I'm guessing choral societies probably wasn't 0:13:58.996 --> 0:14:04.476 the answer you were expecting. But Robert's strange result was 0:14:04.476 --> 0:14:07.836 about to get even stranger, because, like a good political scientist, 0:14:08.116 --> 0:14:10.916 Robert decided to look further back in history to figure 0:14:10.916 --> 0:14:16.716 out why choirs mattered so much. He thought maybe people 0:14:16.756 --> 0:14:19.036 in richer towns had more spare time and money to 0:14:19.036 --> 0:14:22.156 set up singing clubs. Turns out that wasn't right either. 0:14:22.596 --> 0:14:24.956 It was not that wealth produced choral societies, but the 0:14:25.036 --> 0:14:26.516 choral societies produced wealth. 0:14:28.156 --> 0:14:30.916 The Italian towns where it was easy for Robert's fictional 0:14:30.916 --> 0:14:34.276 citizen Giuseppe to access healthcare or the forms his brother 0:14:34.356 --> 0:14:36.876 needed to train as a mechanic weren't just the towns 0:14:36.876 --> 0:14:39.716 that had the most choral societies. Now, they were also 0:14:39.756 --> 0:14:42.276 the towns that had the most choirs hundreds and hundreds 0:14:42.316 --> 0:14:43.196 of years ago. 0:14:43.396 --> 0:14:46.756 The number of choral societies in a region of Italy 0:14:46.956 --> 0:14:51.716 in the thirteenth century predicts, it turns out, not only 0:14:51.716 --> 0:14:55.996 whether Giuseppe will get his medical buility burst, but predicts 0:14:55.996 --> 0:14:58.796 the happiness of people in regions Italy today. I mean, 0:14:58.956 --> 0:14:59.436 think of that. 0:15:02.716 --> 0:15:05.476 Robert was excited about these odd findings, but he didn't 0:15:05.476 --> 0:15:08.476 fully understand the link, that is, until he suffered a 0:15:08.516 --> 0:15:10.156 temporary of insomnia. 0:15:10.236 --> 0:15:13.756 I thought, God, I've got to read something boring that 0:15:13.836 --> 0:15:16.556 i'll fall asleep over. And there was a big book 0:15:16.596 --> 0:15:18.876 line open, and I thought, this is clearly going to 0:15:18.916 --> 0:15:21.956 put me to sleep. It was social theory. Foundations of 0:15:21.996 --> 0:15:22.836 Social Theory. 0:15:23.116 --> 0:15:25.356 Robert just so happened to stumble on a chapter by 0:15:25.356 --> 0:15:29.116 the sociologist James Coleman which explained the concept known as 0:15:29.156 --> 0:15:32.396 social capital. Coleman argued that just as regions can have 0:15:32.436 --> 0:15:36.436 different amounts of physical capital resources like property, roads, and money, 0:15:36.596 --> 0:15:39.396 so too can they amass different amounts of social capital, 0:15:39.676 --> 0:15:43.116 social resources like relationships, networks, and communities. 0:15:43.436 --> 0:15:45.436 I had never heard the term social capital, but I 0:15:45.476 --> 0:15:48.236 began reading it. I said, my god, this is what 0:15:48.356 --> 0:15:53.156 I've been studying. I saw essentially instantly why that was 0:15:53.196 --> 0:15:56.236 the right concept to use for choral societies. 0:15:56.516 --> 0:15:59.516 Robert realized that third places like choirs and bowling leagues 0:15:59.716 --> 0:16:02.516 make governments work better because they allow people to build 0:16:02.596 --> 0:16:06.316 social capital. They helped create local networks in which everyone 0:16:06.356 --> 0:16:09.756 knows each other's names, and research shows that having people 0:16:09.796 --> 0:16:13.236 around who know our names changes our psychology. It helps 0:16:13.276 --> 0:16:16.556 us behave more virtuously. When people know who we are, 0:16:16.676 --> 0:16:18.956 we want to win their trust, and that means we 0:16:18.996 --> 0:16:21.796 put work into meeting our commitments, playing by the rules, 0:16:21.836 --> 0:16:24.756 and settling our bar bills. And if the people around 0:16:24.836 --> 0:16:27.636 us are doing the same thing, if they like us, 0:16:27.716 --> 0:16:30.476 want to be trustworthy and do nice things, then that's 0:16:30.476 --> 0:16:33.076 a win win that makes life easier for everyone in 0:16:33.116 --> 0:16:33.716 the community. 0:16:34.076 --> 0:16:39.436 Trustworthiness is demonstrably increased by social networks. If you and 0:16:39.476 --> 0:16:42.436 I are engaged in some kind of transaction and I 0:16:42.676 --> 0:16:45.156 cheat you, you'll be angry at me. But if we're 0:16:45.196 --> 0:16:47.596 doing that in a setting of networks and I cheat 0:16:47.636 --> 0:16:51.036 you and he's watching, he knows that I'm not trustworthy 0:16:51.036 --> 0:16:54.156 because he's seeing me mistreat you, and that means he'll 0:16:54.156 --> 0:16:56.236 never play a game with me. And we generalize that 0:16:56.276 --> 0:16:59.316 to everybody. If everybody in town is looking at this transaction. 0:16:59.916 --> 0:17:03.476 I am a huge incentive not to cheat you. 0:17:04.396 --> 0:17:06.996 And this is the reason that choral societies were such 0:17:07.036 --> 0:17:10.396 an important factor in Robert's study of those local Italian governments. 0:17:10.636 --> 0:17:13.436 If a city official sang in a choir with other townspeople, 0:17:13.556 --> 0:17:16.236 their reputation and good name became more important to them. 0:17:16.396 --> 0:17:18.676 They wouldn't want it getting around town that they couldn't 0:17:18.676 --> 0:17:21.476 do their job well or send out an application form promptly. 0:17:21.916 --> 0:17:24.916 But the more interesting thing is that social capitalis externalities. 0:17:24.996 --> 0:17:28.156 That is, it has benefits for people outside the networks. 0:17:28.356 --> 0:17:30.876 It's not just that an Italian official would work hard 0:17:30.876 --> 0:17:33.676 for a fellow choir member. The social capital that stems 0:17:33.676 --> 0:17:37.076 from third places like choral societies encourages people to make 0:17:37.076 --> 0:17:40.116 the whole system work better, which means that everyone in 0:17:40.156 --> 0:17:43.476 town gets to enjoy the fruits of more diligence and trustworthiness. 0:17:43.796 --> 0:17:48.196 And Robert observed other externalities too. Take crime, for example. 0:17:48.076 --> 0:17:49.836 The best predictor of a little crime rate in a 0:17:49.836 --> 0:17:52.196 neighborhood is how many neighbors know wander this first name. 0:17:52.436 --> 0:17:54.076 If you hang out with your neighbors in a bar, 0:17:54.276 --> 0:17:57.156 or a singing group or Residents Association. You'll start to 0:17:57.196 --> 0:17:59.596 look out for them, and they'll start to look out 0:17:59.596 --> 0:18:02.676 for you too. Robert himself benefits from living in just 0:18:02.716 --> 0:18:03.516 such a neighborhood. 0:18:03.716 --> 0:18:05.876 And this is the moment for confession. I actually never 0:18:05.956 --> 0:18:08.556 went to the picnics and barbecues and slaving parties, but 0:18:08.636 --> 0:18:11.756 I was able to benefit from the networks of reciprocity 0:18:11.836 --> 0:18:13.796 and people keeping an eye on one of his house 0:18:13.876 --> 0:18:15.476 and so on, even though I was not in it. 0:18:15.796 --> 0:18:18.716 Another example of these social capital building groups is parent 0:18:18.756 --> 0:18:19.956 teacher associations. 0:18:20.316 --> 0:18:22.356 The more the parents are involved in schools, the better 0:18:22.436 --> 0:18:24.836 the performance of the schools, the better performance of the kids. 0:18:24.956 --> 0:18:26.836 And that's true for even kids whose parents are not 0:18:26.916 --> 0:18:29.596 in the PTA. They benefit from the extra anomalies of 0:18:29.636 --> 0:18:31.196 those networks. 0:18:31.396 --> 0:18:34.516 But when Robert's wife, Rosemary showed him the newspaper story 0:18:34.796 --> 0:18:38.436 that PTA attendance was declining in that nearby Massachusetts community 0:18:38.476 --> 0:18:40.676 of bill Ricca, he began to worry. 0:18:41.276 --> 0:18:43.876 At that point, I had not ever thought about measuring 0:18:44.116 --> 0:18:46.756 social capital of America. But the first thought is, well, 0:18:46.756 --> 0:18:50.276 what's wrong with bill Ricca? Is that also true? In intellection? Yes, 0:18:50.356 --> 0:18:52.796 it turned out to me, could that be true every place? 0:18:53.356 --> 0:18:56.356 And So Robert began a careful statistical study not just 0:18:56.396 --> 0:18:59.396 of PTA membership, but of attendance in third places and 0:18:59.436 --> 0:19:02.396 social groups of all kinds. He tracked what was happening 0:19:02.436 --> 0:19:07.556 to rotary clubs, labor unions, religious groups, Scout troops, fraternal organizations, 0:19:07.636 --> 0:19:11.916 women's groups, and even his favorite teenage third place bowling leagues. 0:19:12.316 --> 0:19:14.196 And by golly, it was true everywhere. 0:19:15.556 --> 0:19:18.956 Robert published his findings in a groundbreaking academic article which 0:19:19.076 --> 0:19:21.956 years later became a book. He argued not just that 0:19:21.996 --> 0:19:24.716 our third places and civic groups were in rapid decline, 0:19:24.876 --> 0:19:27.756 but also that society should be much much more worried 0:19:27.796 --> 0:19:30.436 about it. In honor of his own positive experiences in 0:19:30.476 --> 0:19:35.036 Port Clinton, he titled his article Bowling Alone, America's Declining 0:19:35.116 --> 0:19:40.436 social Capital. The article rang alarm bells across the entire country. 0:19:40.596 --> 0:19:44.436 Newspapers picked up Robert's arguments, and politicians vowed to act. 0:19:44.556 --> 0:19:48.236 Within one week, I was invited to Camp David David 0:19:48.276 --> 0:19:50.556 for goodness, Sex and Rosemary and I were on the 0:19:50.596 --> 0:19:53.196 cover of People magazine. So this is not the normal 0:19:53.236 --> 0:19:54.876 experience of any academic. 0:19:55.436 --> 0:19:58.756 So Robert's warning was heated. Right he discovered just how 0:19:58.796 --> 0:20:01.636 important third places were for our happiness and social connection 0:20:01.796 --> 0:20:05.356 in the late nineties, and people listened and things today 0:20:05.436 --> 0:20:10.916 should be great. Right. Unfortunately, that's not how the story went. 0:20:11.236 --> 0:20:13.956 Since Robert's article came out in nineteen ninety five, the 0:20:14.036 --> 0:20:17.676 story of third places has gotten much, much worse. Is 0:20:17.716 --> 0:20:20.356 there any way to stop this nasty cycle? Is there 0:20:20.396 --> 0:20:22.156 a way we can play a part in bringing back 0:20:22.196 --> 0:20:24.876 third places and all the social capital they create? 0:20:25.036 --> 0:20:27.076 Saying I'm not really a joiner isn't going to cut 0:20:27.116 --> 0:20:29.916 it in the coming decades, because we need people in 0:20:29.916 --> 0:20:31.716 this country to be joiners. 0:20:31.716 --> 0:20:33.876 To hear what we can do to rebuild third places. 0:20:34.076 --> 0:20:36.796 Join me when the Happiness Lab returns in a moment. 0:20:44.196 --> 0:20:47.396 Harvard Professor Robert Putnam has taught political science to countless 0:20:47.396 --> 0:20:49.916 students over the decades. You remember, like when you first 0:20:49.916 --> 0:20:51.076