How big are your circles?
If you are looking for a friend, look for one who had been seriously ill." (From an ancient Japanese diary, contributed by my friend Michel.)
Again, this is one of my inventions...
Having invented the term, what do I mean by it?
We live in a society, in a wider sense, as well as in an individual sense. The smallest unit of society, as I see is the family. Even there, one can see groupings, power blocks slowly develop as families grow.
What then, as an individual, feel secure or wanted or healthy within a group?
That is what I mean here as social health.
Bigger the grouping we belong to, we feel more secure, more wanted. There is nothing to beat being considered as a person who must be invited to social occasions. You already get the thrust of my argument.
So, how can we "measure" the degree of our social health?
What parameters should we take into the equation?
To start with, I would take the number of social circles one belongs to. This is true, isn't it? One belongs to so many social groups. Some groups have nothing in common, except perhaps you!
You become the intersection of a number of sets - to give the discussion a mathematical flavour.
Then, of course, how big each circle is - the population in each set.
There can be ranking systems in each set. There are always sets within each set. Look around - in political circles there are kitchen cabinets within cabinets.
Then we have to assign figures for the "health factor" within each set, which might be diagnosed in terms of a "happiness value" of some sort. That you have to do yourself. Perhaps you could assign a value in the range, say 0-10. Well, if the value is zero, I don't think you would want to belong to a particular group.
This exercise could be an eye opener too, you know.
This is true of all research - what one digs up could be really shocking!
So, once you have done the preliminary data collection, you can calculate your final "social health coefficient", "social pulse", "social gravity", or whatever term you may want to assign to it.
Having looked at the individual values for each set, you might begin to wonder how you can increase them in sets which are below par in your opinion.
The first step would be to study the dynamics of the set: what drives and on what the set thrives. It could me wealth. Or, it could be political power, intellectual power, musical, artistic, or plain old gossip consuming pints of ale…
Once the dynamics have been studied, you can start working on schemes to maximise your standing in the critical areas. This might not mean working flat out to become a millionaire, or contesting in elections, or doing a PhD in astrophysics and so on. No, not in any practical sense. It is the image one needs to cultivate. It is the investment in acquiring this art of pretentious portraiture that is called for.
I don't see real investment in monetary terms in this skill development exercise. All that is needed could be to invest more time in watching certain TV channels. For aspiring politicos, I can recommend watching the "Yes, Minister" series. Also, there are specialist dictionaries for every subject under the sun, which could easily be borrowed from any public library. The fact that one visits libraries could also help elevate one's standing in the appropriate circle. Also the fact that one "borrows", rather than "buys", can also elevate one's standing in some liberal circles.
I am sure you can come up with far more original schemes than these of your own to improve your social health. The fact that you done a "scientific study" of Group Dynamics as it Affects Social Health, could even place you on an extremely sought after "health advisor".
Now, modern technology has come to our rescue in the form of the Internet.
Opportunities for improving social health are now enormous. There are literally thousands of social circles one can join. Your social health domain can span the entire world.
To join a circle you need not share common attributes of the group. You can pretend to be anyone you want to be. If you are in video contact, it could be a bit difficult to hide your physical appearance. In voice contact, perhaps the voice could be electronically massaged to sound whatever it should sound like.
For those who wish to be away from cameras, sky is the limit of possibilities.
With a room suitably decorated, you could pretend to be located anywhere in the world too; depict any glamorous setting you wish to project. Ah, who said technology is a curse?
Except when criminals lure unsuspecting kids into crime.
That should not put you, a bona-fide social health fanatic, from trying out the new social health care opportunities!
Do you like to publish your research?