Monday, October 30, 2017

Brief blurts about tribes and tribalism — Anne-Marie Slaughter:


Frankly, I’ve never cottoned much to her writings. Yes, she has helped spread new ideas about the importance of information-age network designs. But, her writings about networks have always struck me as more derivative than innovative, years behind the cutting-edge.

However, in this interview she makes an attractive point that fits well with TIMN-type thinking — “we have too many tribes and not enough networks”. But much as I cotton to that pithy quote, what she means is not spelled-out anywhere I can find, and not particularly clear to me. And her point that “we need different networks for different purposes” is sound but very old news

Here's the full quote:
“Knowledge@Wharton: Does the building of networks become even more of a challenge right now because of this fracturing in American society among different people with different backgrounds?
“Slaughter: “Yes, I would say we have way too many tribes and not enough networks. In other words, we’ve got plenty of people who are deeply and closely connected to people who think like them. It is well documented that as we are more segregated into red and blue communities and more segregated by class, we are less likely to come into contact with people who think differently than we do. Some of these more old-fashioned civic networks — Little League, the United Way — brought us together in ways that we were connected to others who were different. We need to rebuild a lot of that. It’s harder now.
“”Again, lots of people will say, “I know I need a network.” But my point is, not just a network — we need different networks for different purposes.””

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/anne-marie-slaughter-need-fewer-tribes-networks/

[Brought over from my Facebook page post, September 5.]

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