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

[Daniel Hyman]

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> 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
>>
>>
>