Saturday, March 16, 2019

WPA handicrafts in Florida. Could these type of recreational projects reduce social maladies today?

Above: In this WPA adult recreation project in Ocala, Florida, 1937, women and men put together metal, wood, and other handicrafts, using "inexpensive native materials." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

New Deal programs brought people together

During the 1930s and early 40s, New Deal policymakers facilitated many recreation projects for children, teens, and adults, for example, sports, summer camps, art classes, handicraft workshops, model plane classes, pet shows, discussion groups, and dances. Part of the rationale & result of these programs was more social interaction. For example, in the final report of the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (a predecessor to the WPA), we learn that in Illinois:

"The extensive development of recreation projects has brought about a new attitude toward the constructive use of leisure time, both for the workers employed on the project and for those who--many for the first time--have had the opportunity to play, to make something which is their own, and to make friends with others in the group who are also enjoying these leisure time activities" (p. 96).

Modern America's unnecessary and destructive hermit culture

Many Americans today have an infantile obsession with "rugged individualism." But humans are social animals, and we thrive and feel better when we interact with others, when we help each other, and when we socialize and work together. Many of the social maladies we're suffering from today, for example, racism, suicide, mass shootings, and loneliness, stem, in part, from social isolation.

Scholars Erica and Nicolas Christakis write: "To combat loneliness in our society, we should aggressively target the people on the periphery with interventions to repair their social networks. Even better would be to prevent some of these individuals from ever becoming socially isolated" ("Navy Yard shootings: What role does social isolation play in mass killings?" Washington Post, September 19, 2013).

Princeton University researchers Angus Deaton and Anne Case have found that deaths of despair (suicides, drug overdoses, liver disease from heavy drinking, etc.), are linked to "poorer health and mental health, social isolation, obesity, marriage (or lack of marriage), poorer labor market opportunities, and weaker attachment to the labor market" ("Is the US facing an epidemic of 'deaths of despair'? These researchers say yes," The Guardian, March 28, 2017, emphasis added).

A group of French and Canadian researchers recently performed a meta-analysis of 40 studies and found that "The main social constructs associated with suicidal outcomes were marital status (being single, separated, divorced, or widowed) and living alone, social isolation, loneliness, alienation, and belongingness" ("Suicidal thoughts and behaviors and social isolation: A narrative review of the literature," on the website of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, emphasis added.)

A Veterans Affairs (VA) study found that "Among five forms of social connectedness, loneliness was tied to the highest levels of depression and suicide ideation" ("The loneliness factor: How much does it drive depression in Veterans?" VA, February 28, 2018).

In 2018, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) studied the topic and found that 22 percent of adults in the United States "say they often or always feel lonely, feel that they lack companionship, feel left out, or feel isolated from others, and many of them say their loneliness has had a negative impact on various aspects of their life." The KFF study also found that low-income people are more likely to be lonely, and that Americans are "divided as to whether loneliness and social isolation are more of a public health problem or more of an individual problem (47 percent vs. 45 percent), and a large majority (83 percent) see individuals and families themselves playing a major role in helping to reduce loneliness and social isolation in society today and fewer see a major role for government (27 percent)."

Above: A young woman discusses news and current events with a man at a senior citizens home in California, as part of a National Youth Administration (NYA) project. Between 1935 and 1943, the New Deal's NYA employed millions of young men and women on projects of public benefit. Would it be useful to do the same today? (See, "The Risks Of Social Isolation For Older Adults," Forbes, November 29, 2017). Photo courtesy of the National Archives

The answer lies in solidarity, not more solitude

It's ironic that so many Americans view social isolation as an individual's own problem to fix (recall my observation--not entirely novel of course--that a lot of Americans have an infantile fascination with "rugged individualism"). Essentially, many Americans seem to be saying, "Lonely? Tough sh*t, your on your own." Now, think about that for awhile.

Instead of the individualism-cures-loneliness philosophy, I agree with the Christakis's argument (see above): "To combat loneliness in our society, we should aggressively target the people on the periphery with interventions to repair their social networks." They also write: "our society doesn't do well at bringing vulnerable people at our margins back into the fold. It's not just for their sake that we should do so, however, but for our own." 

In other words, sometimes people fall into a hole and need our help getting out. Sometimes they lose their social connections and need help developing more. So let's help them, it's not that big of a deal. We don't have to flop around on the ground in political despair, screaming in agony, "Rugged individualism! Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!! Self-reliance!!!"

I believe that our national obsession with "rugged individualism" is about as healthy as flesh-eating bacteria. We are, in effect, trying to force a square peg (our biological. evolutionary need to be social) into a round hole (selfishness and sociopathic individualism). And this obsession with "every man for himself" helps fuel many social maladies, like suicide, loneliness & depression, deaths of despair, racism, and mass shootings. Unfortunately, and for a variety of reasons, a lot of Americans are isolated and stewing.

Among other strategies for combating America's unhappiness, we should look to the New Deal (which successfully reduced suicides and despair in the 1930s). For example, national and wide-ranging recreation programs, for all ages, supported by both federal and philanthropic funds.

Above: A WPA recreation project at Winnekenni Park, Haverhill, Massachusetts, January 15, 1938. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

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