Clay Shirky brings up the principle of social capital in his book, Here Comes Everybody.  Shirky discussed the findings of Robert Putnam, a Harvard sociologist, who wrote a book titled Bowling Alone in 2000.  Putnam found that “much of the success of the United States as a nation has had to do with its ability to generate social capital, that mysterious but critical set of characteristics of functioning communities” (Shirky 192).  The Golden Rule, a command based on words of Jesus’ the Sermon on the Mount: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,” provides a foundation for us to achieve social capital.  In helping others, you develop social capital which, according to Shirky, is the shadow of the future on a societal scale.  Individuals in groups that have more social capital do better than those in groups with less social capital. “Societies characterized by a high store of social capital overall do better than societies with low social capital on a similarly wide range of measurements, from crime rate to the costs of doing business to economic growth”  (192) and it is “the set of norms and behaviors that instantiates the shadow of the future is social capital, a set of norms that facilitate cooperation within or among groups” (193).

Another observation Putnam made in Bowling Alone was the fact that the very organizations that allowed for group activities, the vehicle for the creation of social capital, has been on the decline in the United States.  Personal responsibilities, increased costs, smaller households, two worker families, television and suburbanization have pulled people away from group activities that were once a mainstay in Americans lives.  This surprising fact led Putnam to organize a website, “Meetup’” to reinvigorate the creation of social capital by connecting people through web communities.  “Meetup didn’t end up recreating the old model of community, because it provided a different set of capabilities; the groups that took first and best advantage of those capabilities were the groups with a latent desire to meet but had faced previously insuperable hurdles.  These groups aren’t the classic American interest groups of yore; many of the most popular groups tell us surprising things about what our society is like right now" (200).  Groups such as SAHM, Stay at home moms, Pro-Ana(pro-anorexia), Voice of the Faithful or Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses are all groups that were latent but had the commonness of finding it difficult to find each other and the cost of finding each other was high.  Technology has changed all of that.  Social capital is now being found through internet groups where people can connect in the comfort of their own homes.

With the development of social groups on the internet, Clay Shirky discusses how love is being spread around again, which of course leads to social capital.  Shirky states, “We don’t often talk about love when trying to describe the public world, because love seems too squishy and too private…but love has become a lot less squishy and a lot less private” as a result of the internet (141).  Distance used to constrain love but that has definitely changed with the web.  “Now we can do things for strangers who do things for us, at a low enough cost to make that kind of behavior attractive, and those effects can last well beyond our original contribution” (142).  This is a true attempt at social capital if there ever was one.  “Our social tools are turning love into a renewable building material.  When people care enough, they come together and accomplish things of a scope and longevity that were previously impossible; they can do big things for love”  (142). The presence of the web is allowing social capital to remain alive and well.

Clay Shirky on Internet Love

you would have them do to you