Judging from the number of articles on the subject in the media, there is a persistent concern that Americans are growing increasingly isolated from one another. Have changes in family patterns and the rise of the Internet reduced the strength (and the number) of our social ties? Do we have fewer numbers of confidantes, friends, and relatives to turn to? In the latest issue of Contemporary Sociology, Naomi Gerstel reviews Claude Fischer's latest RSF book Still Connected: Family and Friends in America since 1970 and finds a convincing -- and "stunning" -- finding that "there has been no decline of community, no decline of connections":

In Still Connected, Claude Fischer provides an account of the manifold ways in which we have remained engaged with family and friends from 1970 to 2010. [...] Fischer quite convincingly shows that notwithstanding demographic changes and technological developments, Americans still manage to visit, talk, and help others about as much as they did before such changes occurred. Here, Fischer is continuing a debate he had in the pages of the American Sociological Review where he criticized Miller McPherson and his colleagues for suggesting that many Americans are now so isolated that they have no one with whom to share important matters. Fischer shows that the percent of social isolates is ‘‘virtually nil’’ and the number has remained about the same over the past four decades. Moreover, Americans now see relatives as often, maybe their mothers even a little more; they talk more to friends, both in person and virtually, than they did in the 1970s. And their feelings about these connections have changed little as well. Americans experience no more loneliness and maybe even less. They still value family life, even three-generation households which have continued to rise since Fischer wrote this book.

Read the full review. You can also read the first chapter of Still Connected for free.