ETHICS and SOCIAL CAPITAL

Al Condeluci, PhD

UCP/CLASS

The Magic Wand

• If you could wish for 3 things for yourself or for someone you love, what would they be?

When this question is asked the most common 3 things are:

• Healthfulness

• Happiness

• Longevity

The realization of your Magic Wand is Achievable

• How?

Through Social Capital!

Research Shows

• Healthfulness

• Happiness

• Longevity

• ARE ALL TIED TO SOCIAL CAPITAL!

• QUITE SIMPLY, THE MORE SOCIAL CAPITAL YOU HAVE, THE MORE HEALTHFULNESS, HAPPINESS, AND LONGEVITY YOU HAVE

* WE ALSO KNOW THAT SOCIAL CAPITAL ALSO BUILDS TOLERANCE, RESPECT, HONESTY, FAIRNESS – IN A WORD – ETHICS AMONG PEOPLE

What is Social Capital?

• It is nothing more than relationships and friendships that people have in their lives

• Social Capital represents the resources available to individuals through their social affiliations and membership in community organizations. It refers to aspects of social relationships that act as resources for individuals and facilitate collective action for mutual benefit.

• “If you belong to no groups and decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying in half over the next year”

• Robert Putnam

Major Domains in Relationships

• Acquaintanceships – people we know

• Friendships – People we do things with

• Covenant – People we love

Bridging Social Capital

• Acquaintanceships

• Early Friendships

• These are when we first get to know someone and we find out the commonality we have between each other. Reciprocation becomes common

“The very first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with others”

Albert Schweitzer

Similarity vs. Difference

When people meet it is through their similarity – but when difference is engaged a polarization can occur. Similarities connect – differences repel.

What gets us beyond difference are:

• Staying in the mix – regularity

• Finding more similarity

Bonding Social Capital

• Close Friendships

• Covenant

• This is when we deepen our bond and close ties and watch out for each other. We want to spend more time together.

Measuring Social Capital

• Sociograms – Social Network Inventories

• These are social maps that identify relationships in the three major domains

• People we know• People we do things with• People we love

Building Social Capital

• In order to build social capital you must be active (or at least present) in the community.

4 Steps to Social Capital

• Identify our key areas of interest

• Find the matching group or community

• Understand how communities behave

• Finding a gatekeeper to acceptance

Identifying the commonality

• Passions

• Hopes

• Skills

• Talents

• Interests

• Capacities

• Fantasies

Finding the Matching Group

• Newspaper

• Television

• Yellow Pages

• Internet – meetup.com

• Ask others

• Observe

How Communities Behave

• Rituals

• Patterns

• Jargon

• Memory (history)

Find the Gatekeeper

• Observe

• Ask

• Introduce

• Support

Gatekeepers

• Is someone who is natural to the community who has some influence on others. They might be formal, or informal leaders who set the tone for what others do in the community.

Types of Gatekeepers

• Proactive – people who are open and reach out to others

• Reactive – people who are closed and see others difference and problems

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

A. Einstein

“Belonging, not escape, is the natural moral imperative.”

Robert Nisbit

The Bridgebuilder

An old man going a lone highway, came to a chasm deep and wide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim, that sullen stream held no fear for him.

But he turned when safe on the other side, and built a bridge to span the tide

“Old man” said a pilgram near, “you are wasting your time building here.

You never again will pass this way, your journey will end at the close of this day

You have crossed the chasm deep and wide, why build you this bridge at even tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head, in the way that I have come he said.

There follows after me this day, a youth whose feet must pass this way.

This bridge which has been nothing to me, to the fair-haired youth must a pitfall be.

Yet he to must cross in the twilight dim, good friend I am building this bridge – for him!

• “We must become the change we hope to create.”

• Gandhi

Al Condeluci, PhD.

UCP/CLASS

4638 Centre Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

412-683-7100 x 2122

acondeluci@ucppittsburgh.org

www.ucppittsburgh.org