In my community there is a "book club" that everyone wants to be a part of. When I moved to town, I met the right person at the right time and I was a part of the book club for several years. Many of my friends often questioned out loud - how I was a member of the book club ... how could I be associated with such women. I generally do not play the society game well and the thought of me being introduced and a part of something so many others wanted to be a part of seemed strange even to me. The real crux of the issue is I really liked all of the women in the book club, they read great books, the conversation was stimulating and the food was ALWAY amazing. As you may note - I am no longer in the book club? What happened? Clemson happened. The spaces in this book club are coveted and to be a member of this book club you need to be an active participant (just like any social networking community) to be a member in good standings. SO - I relinquished my spot (which was filled at the next monthly meeting) and hope there will be a space when I finally have some letters behind my name... (May 2012 ). I should probably put my name on the list now.
NCTE - has recently begun an online community as well (within the last 2 weeks) and as a member of NCTE I have gotten several emails telling me about this online collaboration community. The same principle applies to the book club. I really want to join in this online conversation, it is something I think would be essential to my interests as well as my dissertation. BUT - I do not have time to be a thoughtful and willing participant. So I delete each of the emails - rather than subscribing -- not out of disinterest - but out of lack of time to really be a part of the conversation to the level I think is necessary.
So do you join the book club or the NCTE online community for social capital to say you are a part of something (much like many professional do - for promotion and for status - while they hardly participate) or do you wait until you can be a contributing member (quality vs quantity). When and how do you earn social capital? Does the social capital come from the comments you make or by just being part of the group? These are my questions... I think social capital needs to come from the contribution you make - so for example - in the book club - there were some members who had rich social capital (not based on income - but based on book suggestions) whenever they made a recommendation most members would follow their suggestion without considering other suggestions - and if the person with the highest social capital does not like the book someone lower on the pecking order suggests then that book will not be adopted... I understand this social capital. One friend unfortunately recommended a book that the group hated. Her social capital plummeted over the course of the month and now 3 years later her suggestions for the next month readings still fall on deaf ears ... she now is the puppet master to people above her station and tells them about books - who in turn tell the group about a good book.
The same can be said for the NCTE group - what if I can not contribute volumes to the discussion this semester or the next --- should I join and listen so that once I can participate in the conversation I know the history of the conversation. I guess I am someone who focuses on the quality over the quantity of discussions as well. The case in point of my posts. They are always late - because I spend too much time thinking about the post ... and not enough time writing and the same goes for responses - as someone who grades discussion board posts - I hate the "so and so has some good points" response. All of your posts are so well crafted, I want to provide an equally well crafted response. SO I ponder them and then eventually run out of time - Quality over quantity...
But this seems to be bad in the social network world. Is it better to be a poor participant (making observations just to be in the conversation) than to be one that remains silently in the background waiting for a time to contribute something substantial?
What are your thoughts?
Reed,
ReplyDeleteI, like you, don't want to be a member of something unless I feel like I can contribute to it. However, I do think that you do gain some kind of social capital just from being a member, whether you are a quality member or not. Think about politicians. Some do absolutely nothing in office; they are basically sitting ducks. However, they still have that "social capital." No matter how many reporters or analysts say how awful they are, these politicians still have some sort of social capital that makes them seem above those who are not in politics. Essentially, it doesn't matter what they do. Even if they are hated, their position in society seems "higher" than those of us normal people. This is because they are members of the elite political groups.
You're right, Reed. Social capital is something that has to be "earned" in the same way that you earn "educational capital" by going to Clemson and then investing that educational capital on a career. The book club example you give is a perfect one--totally consistent with what Bourdieu describes with the term social capital.
ReplyDelete