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On Social Capital

-- By WhitneyLee - 18 Feb 2016

How The Quest for Prestige & Social Standing Drives Law Students to Make Decisions That Work Against Our Longterm Well-Being

The function of conformity in relation to social standing (& the false evidence that past conformity presents in suggesting the possibility for future success)(Why communism and socialism scare most Americans - the idea that the state could act as an equalizing force in whole or in part by treating citizens equally)

Assuming that we accept the idea that chasing after social standing and conforming at every step along the way is detrimental in the long run, and ultimately not a guaranteed way to success, how do we change? (Robinson)

What do we do with the limitations that restrict our ability to change? (ie. Family obligations, & Debts that sort of force our hands - I assume this is by design, not just Columbia's design, but all law schools, b/c once you're in debt, they think they have trapped you)

Presence (Doing what you have to do -- don't shirk your responsibilities. Show up.)

Absence (Don't lost sight of your purpose -- if you know your purpose, and don't close your eyes to the opportunities around you to change, by this I mean changing yourself or changing the system that you're in or even changing your circumstances) (i.e. Thurgood Marshall - doing the best you can with what you have) I think that too many people get stuck on the presence part. Too much presence and you're stuck. You feel stuck. You feel like you don't have options, and, not to put too much emphasis on feelings but feelings are what leads lawyers to develop drinking problems and to wrap their cars around telephone poles. Too much presence and you close your mind to everything outside of the situation you're in, you lose perspective and perspective is key for lawyers, actually for anyone hoping to do anything meaningful in this life. I think that you have to balance the two (presence & absence).I'm not sure but perhaps this is what Prof. Moglen was getting at when he spoke about Robert Frost and the spider. Too much presence, say if Frost was focused on whatever task he was supposed to be doing in that moment, he would have never noticed the spider; he would have missed an opportunity to create. So I suppose you have to balance the two, because with not enough presence (too much absence), he would have not had the wherewithal to actually put pencil to paper and make a note of the experience.

What now?

Subsection A

Subsection B

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