Sunday, January 17, 2010

Social Capital: Essentials of Cool

Social capital is the reservoir from which we derive confidence and dignity in social situations. Consider a typical social situation in your life and the accompanying comfort or discomfort, and then consider what you do to use or relieve the feeling of the moment: that is the upkeep or mathematics of social capital. Like currency we use certain rhetoric, body language, and eye contact to communicate a certain status and proportional comfort level. These interactions are done so quickly but the aftermath finds people behaving in a manner consistent with the status they expressed or in a manner betraying a dissatisfaction with the status arrived at.

In order to restrict demonstrations of domination we must recognize and celebrate the inalienable dignity of all people. Without such recognition those people in the 'out-group' will find themselves demonstrated against. And in order to teach lessons of dignified life we must discredit the supremacy of competition (the fundamental rationale for dominating others). Social interfaces are typically played out through competition or cooperation. Competition ought to equal a subtraction sign whereas cooperation ought to equal an addition sign in the mathematics of social science.

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