[Xmca-l] Re: Interesting to think about: the social springs of giving

[mike cole]

Andy & David

Delighted to discuss choirs and adding that summary of Putnam is a gift,
thanks.

But I believe the make a wish story is worth the time to watch, as I said.

I got a note from a colleague in South America who said 60 minutes was not
available. To be clear, the program segment is on the Internet at.
Cbsnews.com, or at least it is available on my iPad this morning.

Feedback appreciated if anyone has the time.
Mike

On Monday, October 19, 2015, Daniel Hyman <daniel.a.hyman.0@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Deal all,
>
> Naturally the mention of choral groups caught this musician's eye, and ear.
> Boix and Posner's article,
> http://dev.wcfia.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/96-04.pdf gives a highly
> readable overview of Putnam's "Making Democracy Work." Though I personally
> would quibble with the assertion that choristers do not go out on a limb
> for one another; if the music is challenging enough, that may often be the
> case.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Daniel
>
> On Sun, Oct 18, 2015 at 11:58 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
>
> > Yes, indeed I am interested, Mike.
> > Critiquing the concept of "social capital" and developing an alternative
> > concept of "social solidarity" and searching for a suitable unit of
> > analysis was how I got started down the track I have been on ever since
> > then, about 2003. What is the difference between community as in all
> people
> > living in such and such town, and "real" community? Robert Putnam had
> > assembled evidence that almost any collective activity fosters what he
> > called "social capital." The problem was that he couldn't distinguish
> > between the mafia taking root in a community and a community taking
> control
> > of crime on its streets, etc. His classic "example" activity was the
> > formation of choir groups, proven promoters of collective "wealth".
> >
> > Andy
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > *Andy Blunden*
> > http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> >
> > On 19/10/2015 2:07 PM, mike cole wrote:
> >
> >> I found a segment of the American weekly TV program, 60 minutes, more
> than
> >> usually interesting this evening, and one segment in particular
> >> seemed to have a lot of relevance to many different interests of people
> on
> >> xmca. The topic was the the activities of the "Make a Wish Foundation."
> >>
> >> Of the very many issues that the program discusses, one which I found
> >> particularly interesting was the ability of the organized practice of
> >> communities
> >> raising money to give seriously ill children "a last wish" is one that
> has
> >> particular relevance to questions about the mechanisms of social
> >> solidarity. In small towns in northern Arkansas, a relatively poor and
> out
> >> of the part of the US, people raise amazing amounts of money to provide
> >> special experience for kids who are dying of some disease that has not
> >> known current cure. What particularly caught my attention especially is
> >> the
> >> powerful effect that participation in the money raising and the
> ingenious
> >> social organization of the activities, has on community members across
> >> several generations, from peers to grandparents. In one sense, it seems
> >> that everything is so focuses on the individual kid that it is "just a
> >> manifestation of late capitalist individualism." If effects on the kids
> is
> >> interesting, but it is the reflected effect on the community pretty
> >> generally, and the emergence of strong personal bonds in particular that
> >> caught me most.
> >>
> >> Andy might find this interesting as an example of a project.
> >>
> >> mike
> >>
> >>   http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/topics/60-minutes/     click on make a
> >> wish
> >>
> >>
> >
>


-- 

It is the dilemma of psychology to deal as a natural science with an
object that creates history. Ernst Boesch