Review: ‘Join or Die’ (2024) starring Robert Putnam, Glenn Loury, David Brooks, Hillary Clinton, Mike Lee, Eddie S. Glaude Jr. and Pete Buttigieg

August 3, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Join or Die” (2024)

Directed by Pete Davis and Rebecca Davis

Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of the United States, the documentary film “Join or Die” features a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans, Asians, Latin people and Native Americans) who discuss the sociological benefits of joining groups.

Culture Clash: The people interviewed in the documentary say that American society has moved toward more social isolation and division, which could be harmful to communities and democracy.

Culture Audience: “Join or Die” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in sociopolitical documentaries that have general overviews, but this documentary doesn’t dig deep enough into the down sides of joining problematic groups.

“Join or Die” is mostly a tribute to political scientist Robert Putnam and his teachings that advocate for people to join groups. This well-meaning documentary ignores the realities that toxic groups exist, but the movie’s overall message is admirable. In some ways, “Join or Die” bit off more than it could chew and becomes unwieldy by addressing topics too broadly. Some of the topics needed a more meaningful examination that is better suited for a docuseries, not a feature film.

Directed by siblings Pete Davis and Rebecca Davis, “Join or Die” is their feature-film debut and had its world premiere at the 2023 SXSW Film & TV Festival. Pete Davis is the documentary’s cheerful narrator. Putnam, who is Pete Davis’ former Harvard University professor, gets a lot of screen time because this documentary was originally going to be a biographical film about Putnam. The movie’s original title was “Unraveling America.” Putnam wrote the 2000 non-fiction book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,” which is the inspiration for much of the ideas put forth in “Join or Die.”

“Bowling Alone” is about the philosophy that societies are better off when people in the societies feel connected to each other. And the best way for people to feel connected with each other is to join groups. The term “social capital” is mentioned numerous times in “Join or Die.” In the documentary, Putnam says he defines “social capital” as “social networks have value.” Davis says in the documentary’s introduction narration: “This is a film about why you should join a club, why the fate of America depends on it.”

As a nation, the United States of America has gone though ebbs and flows in overall unity among residents. “Join or Die” sounds the alarm that the early 21st century has become an era of increased social isolation and a widening gap between the rich and the poor that harken back to the Gilded Age of the late 1870s to the late 1890s. The U.S. Civil War (which lasted from 1861 to 1865) was obviously the most divisive period in American history, but the Reconstruction period was also a tough recovery period of civil unrest. Putnam believes that the best way to lessen the divisiveness caused by the large socioeconomic gaps between the rich and the poor is for people who are rich and poor to interact with each other in groups.

“Join or Die” has commentary from various people in the United States and visits several states (including California, New Hampshire, Illinois, Texas, Michigan, and New York) to interview people about the benefits of joining groups. “Join or Die” also does a good job of including people with various political leanings, ranging from liberal to conservative, and those who are in between. Some “regular folks” are interviewed to talk about some of their social groups (where the groups’ main meetings are in person, not online) that they consider beneficial to their lives.

It’s a noble but ultimately flawed approach to the documentary’s premise because it ignores the down sides of certain groups. What about harmful cults? What about hate groups? What about groups that illegally discriminate against people from joining? Those questions are never explored in “Join or Die” because it seems to cling to the assumption that most groups are not harmful. And that might be true, but there are some groups that are very problematic and cause a lot of harm.

“Join or Die” puts an emphasis on in-person interactions as the healthier way for people to be part of a group, compared to online interactions. The movie doesn’t condemn online interactions but does make a case that in-person interactions are a better alternative if possible because people feel more connected when they can see each other in person. The documentary also makes clear that the type of group joining that’s discussed in the movie is about the groups that people join in their free time and of their own free will—not jobs where people are required to be together.

The rise of social media in the early 21st century gets superficial mentions in “Join or Die” as a reason for why more people are likely to be isolated from in-person interactions. There have been studies linking excessive social media use to depression and suicidal actions, particularly among young people, says U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who is interviewed in the documentary. However, “Join or Die” doesn’t go any further than this brief mention.

“Join or Die” has interviews with a number of well-known public figures, including former politician/former U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton, Pete Buttigieg (currently U.S. Secretary of Transportation), and Mike Lee (currently a U.S. Senator for Utah), but they don’t really say anything profound and only talk in generic terms. For example, Clinton says of the suffrage movement in the U.S. to fight for women’s right to vote: “It never would’ve happened without the spark of civic life.” Buttigieg says, “Social capital is the stuff of which cities and countries are actually made.”

Also mentioned in “Join or Die” is the Saguaro Seminar, which is Putnam’s ongoing initiative at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The purpose of the Saguaro Seminar is to study social capital and civic engagement in the United States. Some of the Saguaro Seminar alumni include Barack Obama (years before he became the 44th President of the United States); George Stephanopoulos (currently an ABC News anchor and formerly White House Communications director for the Bill Clinton administration); and Vin Weber, former U.S. House of Representative for Minnesota. Two of the Saguaro Seminar graduates interviewed in the documentary are economist Glenn Loury and sociologist Xavier de Souza Briggs.

Other interviewees in “Join or Die” are social psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad, religious scholar Eddie S. Glaude Jr., New York Times columnist David Brooks, “The Upswing” co-author Shaylyn Romney Garrett, economist Raj Chetty, labor organizer Jane McAlevey, Roper Center for Public Opinion Research director of operations Kathleen Weldon, gathering expert Priya Parker, Meetup co-founder Scott Heiferman and political scientist Hahrie Han. They all say things that affirm the documentary’s premise that society can benefit when people join groups instead of having an isolationist outlook on life.

The “regular folks” interviewed in the documentary include JC Muhammad, a Chicago-based rideshare driver who’s an organizer for an activist group called Chicago Gig Alliance; Odilia Romero, a member of a Los Angeles-based group of people of Mexican and Native American heritage; Tommy Wright and Awais Hussain, members of the Odd Fellows Lodge #80 in Waxahachie, Texas; Zahra Alabanza, a mother who formed a bike-riding group in Atlanta called Red Bike Green; and Rev. Nurya Love Parish, executive director of Plainsong Farm & Ministry in Rockford, Michigan. Parish and Brooks are among the people in the documentary who say that religion is one of the most common reasons why people join groups.

Remnants of the documentary’s original intention to be a biography of Putnam can be seen in footage where Putnam talks at length about his life. Viewers will hear details about how he met his wife Rosemary Putnam (who’s also interviewed in the documentary) in 1960, when they took the same political science class as students at Swathmore College. At the time, he was a Republican. She was a Democrat. Their first date was a rally for then-U.S. presidential candidate John F. Kennedy.

Robert and Rosemary both attended Kennedy’s inauguration ceremony in Washington, D.C., where Kennedy gave his famous speech saying, “As not what your country can do for you. As what you can do for your country.” Robert says that these words from the speech had a tremendous impact on him and gave him clarity on what his life purpose would be. Later, Robert still gets emotional and choked up when he tells a story about being honored at the White House with the National Humanities Medal in 2013 (bestowed by President Obama) and seeing a portrait of Kennedy at the White House. It was a “full circle” moment for Robert, he says. All of this personal information about Robert Putnam adds an intimate tone to the documentary without being off-topic.

“Join or Die” ultimately puts a feel-good spin on joining groups. The documentary could have used a better examination of legal issues of joining groups that have to do with inclusion and exclusion. For example, what if there’s a group that bases its membership on members having a certain identity. but someone who doesn’t have that identity wants to join the group? “Join or Die” looks at a massive topic from a particular viewpoint that is generally upbeat and positive, but falls short when it comes to acknowledging the reality that not all groups are beneficial to society.

Abramorama released “Join or Die” in select U.S. cinemas on July 19, 2024.