{"id":15390,"date":"2017-11-16T15:07:47","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T23:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=15390"},"modified":"2017-11-16T15:07:47","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T23:07:47","slug":"its-about-who-you-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/its-about-who-you-know\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s about who you know"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an old adage that says, \u201cit\u2019s not about what<\/em> you know, it\u2019s about who<\/em> you know.\u201d If you want to get ahead in life, in your career, or in new opportunities, it seems that the key factor often comes down to how well \u201cnetworked you\u201d are. It\u2019s about who you know.<\/p>\n

In his expansive and exhaustive book, \u201cContemporary Social Theory: An Introduction\u201d, research professor Anthony Elliott seeks to survey an incredibly wide variety of social theories, research and critique. Elliott spans the \u201cclassics\u201d or the traditional giants in the field, such as Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Freud. He covers major figures of the 20th<\/sup> century, like Foucault and Derrida, as well as extending through the feminist and sexual revolutions of the 1970\u2019s, into post modernity and in this new 2nd<\/sup> edition, into the post-9\/11 contemporary time period as well.<\/p>\n

In sorting through the many theories, critiques and points of view that Elliott presents, I looked for a familiar face. Who was in my network? Who was in my world? Who could help connect me to social theory in a way that relates to my research and my work in ministry?<\/p>\n

Although we have no friends in common on Facebook, I focused on Manuel Castells, the Spanish sociologist whose research is featured in Elliott\u2019s book and focuses on communication, globalization and the power of networks in an increasingly mobile world. \u00a0According to research from the Social Science Citation Index, Castells is significant because from 2000-20014, he ranks as the 5th<\/sup> most cited social science scholar in the world.<\/p>\n

Elliott explains Castells\u2019 approach: \u201cAccording to Castells, the rapid growth of technologically advanced, information-rich networks has undermined the explanatory power of Weber\u2019s account of formal organizations. Decentered and flat, rather than pyramidal and hierarchical, are the new boundaries without borders in the network society.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Castells focuses on the affect of computers, technology, financial information flows, and an interconnected global \u201celite\u201d who control and operate within these powerful systems. Castells writes, \u201c\u2018By definition, a network has no centre. It works on a binary logic: inclusion\/exclusion.\u2019\u201d[2]<\/a> He is reflecting on the way in which the world has moved from \u201cindustrial\u201d, physical, solid structures (and hierarchies), toward something more \u201cdiffuse, shifting, and spatially fluid.\u201d[3]<\/a> Either, someone is a part of these networks (and thus, included in the movement around the world), or, someone is not, and thus relegated to be left behind.<\/p>\n

While this may well be true in the world of information technology, I wonder how it might apply to the human migration flow as well. As the world\u2019s populations become \u201cfluid\u201d, mobile, and in many cases, able to cross borders through technology, or to pursue education or job opportunities, how does the power of networks continue to work?<\/p>\n

Castells is himself, an exemplar of what this can look like. Elliott explains, \u201cCastells systematically analyzed the global structures through which the economy became networked. This he did by becoming a truly global social theorist, lecturing and conducting research surveys in, amongst other cities, Paris, Hong Kong, Moscow, Amsterdam, Mexico and Montreal.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

As the economy became better networked and as technology brings the world together, Castells also followed this pattern in his own life and work. He became part of the \u201cnetwork\u201d as he travelled, worked, researched and made connections in a variety of places. In many ways, this is the same story that we are experiencing in Silicon Valley, in the Bay Area of California where I live.<\/p>\n

The bulk of new arrivals in my neighborhood come from Asian or South-Asian backgrounds, and are a part of this global movement of people. They are largely, and almost exclusively, networked within the world of technology, with the accompanying solar system of academic background, corporate sponsors, and global experiences.<\/p>\n

My question is, how will this globally networked group, who have been arriving for decades on the West Coast of the United States (in particular), also become part of new networks here in this country. As Researcher Anthony Giddens describes it, there is a \u201c\u2018time-space distanciation\u2019\u2014the stretching of social relations across space and time.\u201d[5]<\/a> Which means that, over time, those original networks can be stretched to the limit, and there is a need for new networks in a new place.<\/p>\n

The opportunity for the church in the West, which includes a series of powerful networks, is to intentionally seek out those in the \u201cglobal tech\u201d networks, and include them in meaningful ways into a new network, called the \u201cBody of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Castells is correct, and a network by definition operates on a binary \u201cinclusion\/exclusion\u201d model, then it will be incumbent upon those of us who are well-networked within the church, to intentionally seek out, invite and include those of other networks.<\/p>\n

This is always the way it has been done. According to the Gospel of John[6]<\/a>, after Andrew started following Jesus, he went and found his brother Simon Peter, and brought him into the network. And after Jesus met Philip, it was Philip who found Nathanael and invited him into the network as well.<\/p>\n

This is the power that people in a network hold. To enjoy the benefits of being included, and also to reach out and invite others along for the journey.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Anthony Elliott,\u00a0Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction<\/em>, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2014), 294.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Anthony Elliott,\u00a0Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction<\/em>, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2014), 297.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Anthony Elliott,\u00a0Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction<\/em>, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2014), 297.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Anthony Elliott,\u00a0Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction<\/em>, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2014), 295.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Anthony Elliott,\u00a0Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction<\/em>, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2014), 296.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> John 1:35-46 (New Revised Standard Version).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an old adage that says, \u201cit\u2019s not about what you know, it\u2019s about who you know.\u201d If you want to get ahead in life, in your career, or in new opportunities, it seems that the key factor often comes down to how well \u201cnetworked you\u201d are. It\u2019s about who you know. In his expansive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[238],"class_list":["post-15390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-elliott","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15391,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15390\/revisions\/15391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}