Institutions provide procedures through which human conduct is patterned, compelled to go, in grooves deemed desirable by society. And this trick is performed by making these grooves appear to the individual as the only possible ones.

If the cultural elite has its way, the U.S. will be much more like Europe

But we don't have an example of a democratic society existing in a socialist economy - which is the only real alternative to capitalism in the modern world.

If you say simply that pressures toward democracy are created by the market, I would say yes

If a socialist economy is opened up to increasing degrees of market forces, a point will be reached at which democratic governance becomes a possibility.

The basic fault lines today are not between people with different beliefs but between people who hold these beliefs with an element of uncertainty and people who hold these beliefs with a pretense of certitude

I'm sure Putnam is right that there's been a decline in certain kinds of organizations like bowling leagues. But people participate in communities in other ways.