This is the
theoretical perspective that generated the previous post comparing time spent
in social relationships (social capital) with time spent with television
(cultural capital).
Capital here is defined as accumulated labor.
Whenever we accumulate labor as financial capital, or human
capital, or social capital, or cultural capital we are able to transfer that labor
to other times and places. For example, when we earn money, we can buy a house with it.
Human capital is defined as labor that adheres to a human
person. When we labor, we can improve our health, our physical body, our mind,
our talents, our skills and our virtues. (Yes, a Nobel prize winner for his writing on human capital said that virtue is
human capital, i.e., a resource or asset that adheres to persons.)
Social capital is defined as labor that builds and
maintains social networks. Institutions are defined as patterns of behavior that support
and maintain social networks. Families,
households, workplaces, neighborhoods and parishes are all institutions with
associated social networks. Larger institutions
such as parishes can be further divided into smaller institutions, the 5pm Mass,
the 7am Mass, the 10am Mass, the choir, lectors etc., all of which have patterns
of behavior that are associated with networks of particular people. Families can be divided into spousal
relationships, parent child relationships, sibling relationships, etc.
The time that we spend
in social relationships is a key indicator of our social capital investments.
Cultural capital is defined as labor that builds and maintains
shared symbolic systems such as languages, music, dance, artistic expressions,etc. and their associated products such as books, CDs, etc.
The time we spend in
watching television is a key indicator of our cultural investments.
Why do I like the forms of capital conceptual system?
As a social psychologist it allows me to talk about both
persons and organizations within the same conceptual system.
A person can be described as their accumulated human, social
and cultural capital. We are our bodies, our minds, our skills, and our
virtues. And we are also our participation in households, families, workplaces
various other institutions and their social networks. And we are our shared symbol
systems, e.g., languages, books that we have read, media that we have watched,
music that we have heard or sung, etc. The sum of all this makes each of us very
rich and unique. (Now there are some people who like to define themselves and others mainly in terms of their physical and financial capital).
An organization (church, company, city) can be described as
the accumulation of its human, social and culture capital. Catholicism can be described as the
accumulation of those people who call themselves Catholic, institutions (with
their associated networks) that are identified as Catholic, and cultures
(liturgies, books, music, art, etc.) that are identified as Catholic. The sum
of human, social, and cultural capital makes every organization very rich and not able to be defined so
easily by any particular persons, institutions, or symbols systems.
When any of us as a person interacts with an organization we
enter as a very complex internal capital system into interaction with a very complex external
capital system.
Talking about capital can be very inspiring if one remembers
that one is always talking about the accumulated labor of persons rather than (as
some economists would have it) only about things that can be given a monetary
value.
So, the house in which I live is my own accumulated labor,
along with that of the labor of all the people that build the house or provided
the materials for its building or maintained it before I bought it.
The parish is the accumulated labor of all the people who
over the years built not only the physical buildings but all the institutions
and symbolic systems that have become part of the parish.
A bible is the accumulated labor of all the people who have
transmitted the scriptures over the centuries and translated them from culture
to culture.
We live in a global world that has largely been transformed
by accumulated human labor in the form of physical structures, present and past
human beings, present and past human institutions, and present and past human
symbol systems.
So, whenever we discuss doing anything personally or
collectively, the question is how will, what we do impact not only the physical
environment but also our human capital, our social capital, and our
cultural capital.
Back to question of
time spent in social relationships and television. Our social relationships are places in which we
can influence others as well as have them influence us. Television is a
symbolic (virtual) reality that influences us far more than we influence it. We
can interpret it by means of our social network and other media systems. However, it is far more likely to make disciples
(followers) of us than empower us to be leaders influencing others.
