>social networking skills are one important determinant of
>people's chances in life, at least as important as math skills. I also
>think that social networking skills are crucial to a democratic culture;
>it is through social networking that the social capital arises to knit a
>society together and provide the foundation for social organizing of any
>type, whether in politics or business.
However, I want to foreground what might be problematic about
a generalizable model of networking skills (presumably a
model of the "socially competent" defined against some notion
of the "socially inept"), particularly problematic if the model
were implied by the following example:
>The women who arrive in my college classes have
>clearly learned very different social skills. Some of them are confident
>masters at social networking, and have no problem talking to me or getting
>help from other people. Others are not masters at social networking, and
>might subscribe to a sort of individualistic perfectionism that produces
>either B+ work or A- work and an ulcer.
-- which suggests a particular KIND of networking, leading
to a particular kind of social good. I would hope that a model
of social networking skills would recognize the skills of students
who network with peers & non-academic role models, even if those
students don't get A's. I appreciate the concern that students
"move in different social worlds, accumulate social capital,"
etc. So does that imply (as I think it should) a commitment to
helping middle class students network outside a middle-class
milieu? (as well as, let's say, promoting the entry of a
non-middle class student into an academic network).
[ "middle class" here stands for members of "dominant social group"]
In other words, any modeling of social networking skills should
account for the various networks the child/student might
develop/have access to as well as how existing networks
can be extended.
Also, I would want a model to be "sensitive" to differences
in motivation - to make the values implicated in networking
practices explicit and explicitly tied to ideology. In other
words, I don't see as equivalent the following scenarios:
1. a student wants to be seen as successful, focuses on
individuals she/he perceives to have prestige & influence,
and finds ways to make connections to further her/his own
visibility and opportunities; 2. a student, in pursuit of
some project, looks for, finds, and makes use of resources
in the immediate environment.
Moreover, the two scenarios look different depending on the
student's background. If a non-middle class student does #1,
we might assume the student really has acquired social networking
skills - has learned new discourses, whereas for a student
accustomed to privilege, pursuing an entitlement might come
"naturally."
I like the idea of cross-generational, culturally diverse activity
networks as sites for developing networking skills and
[perhaps redefining?] social capital.
- Judy
Judy Diamondstone
diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
Rutgers University
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