I am tired of the term "social capital," and the fact that people have to care how much they have, and how much they will lose by expressing their opinions.
The internet didn't invent social capital. The internet didn't invent biting your tongue, or knowing you're shooting yourself socially in the foot. The internet didn't invent knowing people well enough to take things on trust. The internet didn't invent being wary of strangers.
And neither did we.
You can excise the term from your vocab if you like. Like cilantro, it'll still exist. You trade in it every day, just by being around. And sometimes by not being around.
Who did invent the term "social capital"? I only started using it IRL after hearing it applied in B'cy by memfault.
I don't know, Wolfram, but here's an interesting place to start reading.
Though it would be cute if the World Bank were stealing from us.
It first got used during/shortly after the Great Gang of Fourteen discussion, didn't it? (Or however many it was.)
Maybe the thing with rafmun. We like to pretend we're egalitarian, but social networks just aren't. Social capital came up as a way to explain why it was ok to treat some people differently from others.
I'm pretty sure I brought the phrase "social capital" into Bureaucratic discussions, though, of course, the idea has been around for a long time. It always seems weird to me that people feel like it's
prescriptive
when it's merely
descriptive.
It's just a way to describe a particular social dynamic. As ita notes, the dynamic doesn't go away by ignoring the phrase. Some people treat it like it's a Cool Kids Uber Alles manifesto though.
Sometimes, it might feel that way. Much like when people feel left out of the joke with the sockpuppets, I can see how the term itself can be unsettling. That maybe someones legitimate concerns are being blown off simply because they might not have the social capital someone else does.
I think that when, in a discussion like this one, anyone is afraid to post their opinion because of the social capital, it's detrimental to the discussion itself. I wish there was a way to say, "No social capital here for now.' But there isn't.
I wish there was a way to say, "No social capital here for now.' But there isn't.
Well, because I don't forget all the things I like about Aimee when I'm talking to her. It's really no different than saying "this person has/doesn't have my respect." Except it is different because it acknowledges that "respect" is not an either/or, but something that comes in degrees.
Wolfram, The earliest post I see that uses social capital is from me though I reference something that Allyson says. So if I were guessing which Buffista brought it up first, I'd say it was her.
But, as ita notes, not a concept unique to us.
