An individual has social meaning once he becomes part of an institution or organization or simply, a recognized group with social standing. He will be remembered, henceforth, as a person with identifiable characteristics obtained by virtue of his association with that institution or organization.in a certain society. These yielders of social meaning are readily known, so that in this item, I need simply mention some prominent. The list cannot be inclusive, since any society is ever-changing.
(Membership is not enough designation; and hence the term social meaning. An individual may belong to some institution which little prominence in the greater society. He will gain little in social meaning, himself, because the organization has little to give. One must talk of societal evaluation of the worthiness of the organization before one attains the concept of social meaning.) The idea ingrained in the concept is that an individual gains the prospect to be remembered long after he has died. But this prospect can only occur, I contend, when there is an institution to which he has contributed by his work and devotion and so is worthy of social meaning, himself.
Ways to gain in social meaning
1. The family. Simply by being into the Kennedy clan, one attains social meaning. Lineage is a source of social meaning.
Yet, I am said to be a descendant of the King of Poland in the Seventeenth Century, Jon Sobieski. Nobody in this part of the world has ever heard of him; and so I have no more social meaning derived from my ancestry than a black man whose parents were slaves in the South! That is to say, I will not be remembered because I am a descendant of Jon Sobieski. It adds nothing to my social meaning quotient. And, there is no institution that perpetuates the memory of Sobieski worthy of note in America.
2. Religious affiliation or membership. It is said that during the war in Afghanistan a native could gain prominence should he convert to Christianity, thus being aligned with the American troops. Immediate cash-in value of social meaning due to religious membership.
Similarly, being a Muslim in the US, can have negative value, especially in rural America, where if you're not Christian, even Fundamentalist, you don't belong. The neighbors won't accept you; and the Christian churches rile against you.
3. Political party affiliation. Belonging to some Tea Party organization, a citizen could be shunned by one of the major parties. Nevertheless, being a member of one of major parties is unlikely to add to your social standing in the community.
4. Holding a job or becoming a professional, including doctor, lawyer, clergyman; engineer. These occupations yield social meaning in the life of a community.
However, being an artist, except in the music field, provides little social meaning and may even be evaluated negatively. The great artists are usually acclaimed through the museums and art galleries that attest to their greatness long after their death. Also, true of the great classical musicians.
5. Coming up with creative and innovative ideas that herald new technologies, sciences, etc. yields much social meaning among the professionals in their scientific fields. Of course, Rockefeller, Ford and other business geniuses have reached their pinnacle of greatness in modern society to this day; and have enormous social meaning in the annals of our society.
Lessons from these applications
The point to be gained from this cursory examination of social meaning is that we everyday people should limit our attempts to gain social meaning to institutions in our community and locale where we can be remembered by those who will live and work where we lived and worked. We become the progenitors of our way of living and our values housed in the institutions that we became apart of.
We are truly "victims" of our own time and place in this world.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Social Meaning Meta-Elements
Social meaning is an agreed upon dynamic interaction between an institution in society and the individual. While the institutions may vary, there's a commonality in the properties of the interaction.
1. The Promise. The institution (or, organization) promises to the individual benefits, including money, to perform certain activities on behalf of the institution. As such, the institution is offering meaning to the individual as providing a significant societal activity from which others can benefit.
2. The acceptance. The individual freely accepts the purpose of the institution as his directive and his self-interested enterprise to perform as best he can in situ.
3. Areas of societal advancement. Just by doing what he wants, he is advancing the goals of the institution he participates in. There is a coalescing of self-interest and organizational goals, i.e., those of selfless interest.
4. Provisions for breakdown of social meaning attribution. Should an institution fail to live up to the conditions under which the individual has contributed to its goals, he can raise objection to the paucity of benefits and rights that it has bestowed upon him. He may become disassociated with that particular institution or organization. For instance, a doctor who includes wholistic applications may go off on his own, decrying the AMA. But he risks the isolation from the mainstream medical world that would likely result.
Similarly, should an individual acting on his own imply that he has the backing of a particular institution, he becomes subject to the institution's sanctions and disbarment.
5. Utopian vision pursued. The institution promises society successful achievement of social goals. Its social meaning is dependent upon its fulfilling its objectives as understood in the cultural context. Importantly, it is through the individuals who work to achieve the objectives set forth in the institution's educative practices and advances through its structures that the worthiness of the institution becomes justified and socially supported. In sum, the social meaning of the institution and its manifold organizations is vouchsafed and attested to by individuals with their own social meaning that only includes that of the institution to which they are identified. The institution awaits an evaluation by the society which increases its institution's social meaning.
1. The Promise. The institution (or, organization) promises to the individual benefits, including money, to perform certain activities on behalf of the institution. As such, the institution is offering meaning to the individual as providing a significant societal activity from which others can benefit.
2. The acceptance. The individual freely accepts the purpose of the institution as his directive and his self-interested enterprise to perform as best he can in situ.
3. Areas of societal advancement. Just by doing what he wants, he is advancing the goals of the institution he participates in. There is a coalescing of self-interest and organizational goals, i.e., those of selfless interest.
4. Provisions for breakdown of social meaning attribution. Should an institution fail to live up to the conditions under which the individual has contributed to its goals, he can raise objection to the paucity of benefits and rights that it has bestowed upon him. He may become disassociated with that particular institution or organization. For instance, a doctor who includes wholistic applications may go off on his own, decrying the AMA. But he risks the isolation from the mainstream medical world that would likely result.
Similarly, should an individual acting on his own imply that he has the backing of a particular institution, he becomes subject to the institution's sanctions and disbarment.
5. Utopian vision pursued. The institution promises society successful achievement of social goals. Its social meaning is dependent upon its fulfilling its objectives as understood in the cultural context. Importantly, it is through the individuals who work to achieve the objectives set forth in the institution's educative practices and advances through its structures that the worthiness of the institution becomes justified and socially supported. In sum, the social meaning of the institution and its manifold organizations is vouchsafed and attested to by individuals with their own social meaning that only includes that of the institution to which they are identified. The institution awaits an evaluation by the society which increases its institution's social meaning.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Social Meaning Format
We humans don't live long. But we'd like to live longer and longer. Is it possible to do this?
Society has found a way--by becoming members of institutions and by becoming members of organizations so that we pass the baton on to the next generation. We take on meaning into the future because we have joined social institutions and organizations that continue to exist long after us. We have indorsed these social systems while living so as to continue to be remembered as one of their members. Indeed, there may be a book, e.g., a yearbook, that indicates the meaning we gave to some school or university; or a book of illustrious workers in a factory that contains our picture!. We were meaningful to those with whom we worked or went to school with while alive. The institution is glad for us and for what we did then to help it succeed. We mean something in the life of the organization and it has meant something to us.
I am using "institution" to include an educative component and a professional standards' repository element. An organization does not usually include these, but organizations are where we individuals practice our crafts and exercise our training; and from whom, incidentally, we get paid!
There is a general formula which expresses social meaning: a has meaning to b whenever there is an institution x to which both a and b come into transactional relationship.
According to this analysis, a VIP, a very important person, is one who has membership in many organizations, many of whom recognize his contribution, and thus will recognize him into the future life of the particular organization. .Thus, he has accumulated a significant degree of social meaning, beyond the norm.
Society has found a way--by becoming members of institutions and by becoming members of organizations so that we pass the baton on to the next generation. We take on meaning into the future because we have joined social institutions and organizations that continue to exist long after us. We have indorsed these social systems while living so as to continue to be remembered as one of their members. Indeed, there may be a book, e.g., a yearbook, that indicates the meaning we gave to some school or university; or a book of illustrious workers in a factory that contains our picture!. We were meaningful to those with whom we worked or went to school with while alive. The institution is glad for us and for what we did then to help it succeed. We mean something in the life of the organization and it has meant something to us.
I am using "institution" to include an educative component and a professional standards' repository element. An organization does not usually include these, but organizations are where we individuals practice our crafts and exercise our training; and from whom, incidentally, we get paid!
There is a general formula which expresses social meaning: a has meaning to b whenever there is an institution x to which both a and b come into transactional relationship.
According to this analysis, a VIP, a very important person, is one who has membership in many organizations, many of whom recognize his contribution, and thus will recognize him into the future life of the particular organization. .Thus, he has accumulated a significant degree of social meaning, beyond the norm.
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