This Film Will Make You Want to Join a Club

'Join or Die' has a delightfully empowering message for all.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, there was a 50% decline in the number of times Americans attended club meetings or took on leadership roles in local organizations. From the 1960s to the 2020s, religious congregation membership fell by 35%, along with union membership, which dropped by 66%. Even picnics plummeted by 60%.

In other words, many people stopped spending time together.

These alarming numbers come from “Join or Die,” a documentary film that plots the collapse of civic life in the United States. While that might sound depressing (and it is), the surprisingly upbeat film also makes a compelling argument for the fact that rebuilding those social connections—or becoming a “joiner”—is key to reversing that trend. Not only that, but it is a convincing solution to fixing much of the isolation, polarization, and erosion of trust in institutions that defines society today.

We Need Community

The film revolves around the work of Robert Putnam, a Harvard-based academic who wrote the bestselling book Bowling Alone in 2000. Putnam, who features prominently in the film and is an immediately lovable figure, has spent decades researching social capital. He says it is such a simple concept that he’s “almost embarrassed to say it… It is that social networks have value.”

Indeed, these social networks are what makes democracy work. As the film’s narrator explains, if you cheat somebody in a social network, “other people will hear about it. So, the more I lose by cheating … the more likely I am to be honest.” There’s a difference between specific reciprocity, where you treat an individual well because then they’ll treat you well, and generalized reciprocity, which operates on a grander scale: “I’m going to be nice to you just because you’re in this community, and you’re likely to be nice to me.” This is how social capital generates trust.

joinordiefilm

A post shared by @joinordiefilm

One fascinating point that scholar Eddie Glaude Jr. makes in the film is that civic organizations provide a training ground for leadership skills that members may struggle to develop elsewhere. When you are part of a club or religious group, you have opportunities to organize, negotiate, motivate, give speeches, and more. Historically, this has a boon particularly to people in marginalized or impoverished communities.

Clubs also make us happier, offsetting many of the mental and physical repercussions of chronic loneliness. As Putnam says, “Your chances of dying over the next year are cut in half by joining one group.”

Insidious Screens

So, why has club membership dropped off so precipitously? There’s no clear answer, but one factor the film points to is TV—and, by extension, other newer forms of media. Research shows that those who attended the fewest club meetings were most likely to say TV was their “primary form of entertainment.” After all, before TV, “civic life was entertainment.” There was little else to do. Now imagine how that has been exacerbated by smartphones and the Internet.

While not addressed explicitly in the film, this got me thinking about how in-person social networks are not the same as virtual ones. There is a huge difference between feeling connected with real-life neighbours and members of your local community than interacting, from the solitude of your home, with anonymous strangers. While it is possible to feel pleasure from connections made online, they are not rooted in geographic reality and should not comprise the majority of one’s social interactions. You’ll likely never meet those online friends face-to-face, nor can they help you in the practical ways that physical neighbours can.

Developing these real-life connections takes effort and work. It’s much easier simply to lie on our couches and scroll on our devices, watching and commenting on videos that “friends” post on social media, and feel that we’ve “connected.” Far harder is getting dressed, heading out the door, giving up a quiet evening after a busy day to meet an odd mix of strangers who happen to share your particular interest in, say, bowling or weightlifting or cycling or gardening. But the payoff is great. You’re pretty well guaranteed to come home feeling satisfied or rejuvenated, or at the very least, aware that you belong someplace.

The Generosity of Clubs

I’m ashamed to admit that I’d never given much thought to social clubs before watching “Join or Die.” But as Putnam ran through the list of civic organizations that had played significant roles in his northern Ohio hometown, I felt a jolt of recognition and realized that many of these same clubs had done wonderful things for me.

For years, I participated in annual public speaking competitions hosted by the Royal Canadian Legion, eventually winning the Ontario provincial championships in high school. That played a huge role in making me comfortable on stage, and now a big part of my job is public speaking. The Rotary Club sent me on a life-changing year-long student exchange to Sardinia, Italy, when I was 16, something I never could have organized on my own; and as a child, I competed every spring in music festivals organized by the Kiwanis Club.

All of these formative opportunities were essentially free to me, provided through the generosity of club members fueled by a sense of duty to make their communities a better place.

Be a Joiner

“Join or Die” urges viewers to become joiners, to find a group that attracts them or to form their own. As humans, we instinctively crave belonging, and we become nicer when we spend time together; it’s far more difficult to overlook someone’s humanity when you’re looking at them face-to-face. We are also capable of achieving amazing things when we join forces with each other, like raising money for infrastructure—playgrounds, swimming pools, skateparks, bike trails—that makes our communities better places to live. And in doing so, we stand a better chance of breaking down many of the barriers that separate us.

At the end, the film emphasizes the role that individuals play in shaping the trajectory of their own society. All it takes is people choosing to show up in their local towns or cities, joining groups, talking to their neighbours, prioritizing the act of gathering. It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive; it only takes a bit of effort, with enormous social rewards. I think this is doubly important for those of us who are parents, because not only does it boost our own well-being and morale, but it sets an example for our children about what matters in life.

As Putnam says, young people need to picture the kind of country they want 10 years from now. They need to ask themselves, “What kind of America will I have allowed to happen, or pushed to have happened?” When you take community seriously, you see your surroundings in a new light—and then transformation can occur.

Please see trailer below. Full film is available on Netflix.

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