Something happened this weekend that forced me to think and ask myself the following question.
“When was the last time we stopped and felt proud of our accomplishments, and what type of achievements came to our mind?”
Most of us would think of milestones such as the first car, career, house and other tangible markers of success, in the material and individual sphere, because such things make people feel proud, inflate their ego and act as a mental stimulator, encouraging them to go after more.
People want to buy and demonstrate tangible assets & products because these assets and products are the most visible markers of personal progress within the social sphere. They signal the socio economic shift and mark an individual’s current standing in the social sphere. It represents their hard work, luck and most importantly and individual’s perceived importance within his ecosystem.
By doing this people are able to enjoy the comforts of their acquired assets / products and send out strong signals, like the ones I’ve mentioned above. But what does the larger public think of such individuals?
I’ve noticed and felt that the larger group and public don’t really form favorable opinions on someone’s visible assets / capital; in fact it’s become a blind spot. The public doesn’t really appreciate the individual’s effort and success, because everyone is out to get more! The benefits of the capital and value created are only relevant & restricted to an individual therefore no one bothers. So why should it inflate an individual’s ego – so why do people still follow the cycle?
This is where social capital becomes relevant. And I find it interesting. Go to a small town, village or even city. You’ll always come across someone who will proudly say “my grandfather got that library built” or “my family got the temple built”. And that is social capital.
Psychologists give extreme importance to social capital. It’s known to increase self esteem. It has the power to help people feel important, without them having actually done anything noteworthy. And this is possible because there is a bigger sense of gratification in knowing your [or parents] ability to GIVE rather than AQUIRE.
It gives a huge boost to the ego because it signals an individual’s intent to help community on his own without taking ownership of the asset he creates for the community. People retain control of their contributions by creating trusts etc. But it’s done after individually acquiring capital and then making it social; accessible to all.
Only if brands and large corporations knew how to leverage this sentiment for their CSR initiatives!
