How much social capital do you have? When was the last time you spent it?
It’s not often that people think about the fact that social status can be gained, gambled, lent and spent, but it can - which is why I’m calling it ‘capital’ - and just the act of realising this might change the way you choose to live your life.
Social status is really built into the fabric of our society, from kindergartens and schools to our offices, all the way to our future care homes.
Rich people have it, talented people have it, our parents have it, we have it. Some people have lots, some people have very little. It’s about perceived power and importance, and this perceptive aspect makes it so hard to pin down: A billionaire can silence a room with the lazy wave of his hand simply because people respect his money; but when he goes home for Christmas his mum still scolds him for not phoning home enough and tells him he really ought to shave. Status varies and changes in complex ways, and yet we’re genetically programmed to understand this strange social hierarchy because it’s such an ancient natural concept - one we share not just with apes, but dogs, lions, and chickens, among hundreds of others.
I wish more of us thought about social status in the same way we already think about money. Those of us who don’t earn much money get to keep the vast majority of it, but just a little is taken by the government to fund things like the NHS and schools, and every so often we donate small amounts to charities. And we all agree it makes sense that the people who earn lots and lots of money then give proportionally far more of it to the government than us, and often give proportionally far more to charity - and that this is ok and good because what’s left over for them is still more than enough, and still far more than most people will ever earn.
In the same way, if the society around us has by some measure deemed us to be ‘cool', or important - and therefore respected - should we not use some of that status to elevate things that same society has deemed uncool or unimportant?
Let’s back up a second. Can we really do that? How would that even work? We actually see this process happening in lots of places if we look for it: what was LiveAid, if not the coolest people on the planet giving their social status to a cause - fighting famine - not deemed cool or important enough by people in the western world. Celebrities help politicians campaign for policies they believe in, and kids stand up for their younger siblings when they’re being bullied.
Today, we even see social media ‘influencers’ - people with an online social status - advertising strange products that are often pretty uncool, and often cost them a few followers as a result: being advertised to rather than entertained is annoying. But it’s worth it to them, because they’re paid for their troubles.
In some cases it may even be more accurate to think of it as ‘lending’ our social status, in a kind of non-zero sum game - those bands at LiveAid for instance certainly did not become less cool by lending their voices to help famine relief.
A lot was made - rightly, since it was indeed news - about Taylor Swift ‘finally breaking her political silence’, and encouraging fans in her home state of Tennessee to vote for the Democratic candidate over the Republican. Wading into politics as a celebrity inevitably alienates some fans, and yes, album sales might suffer as a result, but - should that be too much to ask from someone with her nearly unparalleled clout?
The coverage she got was broadly positive, but there were some strong words… from Republicans, angry she’d shelved her silence to side with the other team. Only a few voices showed any exasperation or dismay that it took a full twelve years for one of the most powerful voices on the planet world to finally speak up on something (literally only Justin Bieber has more combined twitter and Instagram followers, and he at least lent/spent his social capital supporting Black Lives Matter in 2017). For twelve years she made crystal clear that she would rather use her fame and her imagine for her bank balance than (for instance) help make the state and country that built her a better place.
This however is not about Taylor, and thankfully she did eventually decide to do the bare minimum and speak up on an issue that mattered. She was far from alone in being unwilling to use her platform. That tendency to put your self-preservation and success over your generosity is natural, but the point is that that doesn’t make it okay. We don’t tolerate selfishness from the rich, and we shouldn’t tolerate selfishness from the socially wealthy. There are no laws around this, and there shouldn’t be, but as a society, we should all be readier to fire shots at those who don’t appear to measure their lives by anything other than how cool they look and what will earn them the most money.
Similarly, us nobodies could and should look at our own social capital objectively too, and decide how much we’re willing to lend, or give up. There’s a lot of ways it can be lent or spent: on social media, you can shout out a movement on your snapchat story, share the link to sign a petition, promote an artist friend’s instagram, spread news stories that matter. Personally, I simultaneously do these things, and do them less than I should, each time feeling that overwhelming sensation of all my instagram followers collectively yawning at me. Instagram is a place with extra pressures to look cool, but it’s also the place where the current definition of ‘cool’ is updated.
Offline, you might take some time to be nice to someone treated badly in the office, or tell people more often about cool things your friends have done, or chat to the shy person at the party instead of the fun people.
None of these things are cool. That is exactly the point.
Of course for various reasons some people feel that they have very little social status to give. But for the rest of us who have something to offer and know it, maybe it's time to examine our priorities. The world needs it - there’s a lot of small issues close to home that we can help with, but there's also a lot of big issues in the world, from child poverty to Black Lives Matter to immigration policies.
So many of these things really really matter, but could just do with your help and your participation in making them… cool. It doesn't just help spread awareness, and help give them the attention they deserve - crucially, it makes it just a little easier for the next person to speak up for it too.
Not everyone is famous, not everyone has a social media following, and not everyone can swing an election with a tweet; but we all have something to offer, and it’s time to stop asking how ‘cool’ something is before deciding whether to step in and help.