A Conversation Salon: Exploring CulturePlaces

 

 Insights into Cultureplaces provide meaning, significance and purpose which contribute to our happiness. Observations that we accumulate not through “knowing more and more about less and less,” as scholars do, but just by living a cosmopolitan life in the Bay Area. These intellectual perambulations equip us to form opinions that deserve to be explored by others who share an interest in the deeper significance of events.

We emphasize dialogue among participants of our salon not passively watching lectures or panel exchanges. As the great polymath Sir David McKay wrote in his book on sustainable energy Without Hot Air, "Convictions are stronger if they are self-generated, rather than taught"

Rafting the Cultural Currents of the New Millennium

"To enter the current of this poem is to hurtle downstream through history on a flood of eloquent and passionate language that is in turn philosophic, satiric, tender, angry, ironic, sensuous, and, above all, elegiac.”

        ~Yale’s Helen Vendler on “A Treatise on Poetry” by Czeslaw Milos

 

Rather than try to tackle complex national and international issues and institutions that affect the entire U.S., we concentrate on place-based trends and research that more directly reflect our everyday experiences in our own neighborhoods, workplaces, and other closer connections. We seek to grapple with ideas that stem from and have immediate implications for our personal ties and intellectual enjoyment. We deal with those grassroots issues not to influence public policy or resolve differences but to gain an understanding of the way of the world-- in order to sort out the chaos and thereby increase our pleasure.

We start from the premise that changing the body politic at the state and national level is becoming increasingly difficult for citizens of the 21st century in the way that the power structure was able to do at the start of the 20th century, when American Progressivism was imbued with a strong reformist optimism. “I propose that we lead” declared Edward Adams in the paper delivered at the organizational dinner of the Commonwealth Club of California in 1907. That determination has long since been replaced by anger or apathy, cynicism or irony. Were it not otherwise, the Commonwealth Club would still be engaged in “public service” i.e. attempting through their long standing “Study Sections” to help shape California laws and regulations. Now only specialists attached to policy institutes and politicians’ offices can comprehend such complicated issues, not to mention offsetting the power of money.

We therefore put aside debates over broad public policy matters such as “the media”, health care, diplomacy, climate change, and immigration policies that require a level of expertise that defeats all but the most determined policy wonk. Or they happen in our everyday interactions but devolve into heated rants. That said, however, certain patterns of actions associated with racial, gender, and employment relations, for instance, have various impacts affecting human activity around the world including strong influence over our own daily lives. These human tendencies, we believe, can best be examined as they emerge in particular contexts which we call Cultureplaces.

By culture we mean the normative order, grounded and manifested in specific places, explained by the behavioral sciences, and illuminated and animated by the arts and humanities, which allows us to comprehend ourselves, others, and the world around us, and through which we make sense of our experience. We probe what is often bcalled the Human Condition with an emphasis on societal trends and artistic expressions that we experience in our own lives and provide texture and insight leading to pleasure. In short, culture is shared meaning.

For places of culture to be more than divertissements, they must be pertinent to the formation of our values and bonds of friendship, what has come to be referred to among academics as adding to our “social capital”. Social capital is the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to a durable network of relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition – or in other words, to involvement in a closeknit group.

One of the most prominent figures in this field, Harvard professor Robert Putnam, has described social capital as: “…features of social life – networks, norms, and trust – that enable participants ... to pursue shared objectives…" Having fewer social relationships to lean on will have implications for boomers’ quality of life. As Putnam notes, “[s]ocial isolation is widely recognized as a strong predictor of morbidity and mortality, especially among the elderly.” That said, however, we also accept that perspectives will vary. We expect and encourage differing opinions. But there is a commonality of rules of engagement--ways of behaving in our exchanges.

Insights into Cultureplaces provide understanding significance and purpose which contributes to our happiness. Observations that we accumulate not through “knowing more and more about less and less,” but just by living a cosmopolitan life in the Bay Area equips us to form opinions that deserve to be explored by others who share an interest in the deeper significance of events and related information.

We emphasize dialogue among participants of our salon not passively listening to lectures or panel exchanges. As the great polymath Sir David McKay wrote in his book on sustainable energy Without Hot Air, "Convictions are stronger if they are self-generated, rather than taught"

Clearly, one’s genes as well as class, gender, age, race, sexual orientation and the numerous other distinctions that seem so wrapped up in our identity these days, lead to our personal points of view. The Cultureplaces Salon provides more opportunities to compare these views on the ramifications of the changing social landscape constrained or enhanced by our biological influences. (nurture/nature)

We have found that understanding the implications of our experiences emerges best through discourse, not absorbing more information. All that is required is a curious and probing mind and the capacity for dialogue (attributes that are too often missing in conversations around the water cooler or at the dinner table). And while we may wrestle with weighty matters that can ignite strong emotions, we want to be able to treat them playfully and with a disinterested passion for clarity that avoids partisanship, ad hominem arguments, grandstanding, or ax grinding. Such a mental exercise results in pleasure and reduces the pain of confusion and discord that too many conversations devolve into.

This conversational skill is not easily acquired. Cultureplaces Salonistas have demonstrated that they have the wherewithal to participate in our roundtables.

We avoid the “sage on the stage" format. Instead a presenter might offer some preliminary remarks to launch our exploration and then serves as a kind of “river guide” to keep the discussion on course.

For a few of our discussion programs, we invite someone, often an advocate or practitioner involved in some aspect of an issue, to join us as a resource person. In most other get-togethers we utilize an author's talk, movie, play, article, podcast or video found on the Internet to spark our discussions. TED itself has finally launched TEDxSalons which allow attendees to discuss a TEDxTalk face to face, though most TEDx sites treat TEDx Salons as briefer versions of TEDx gatherings. The administrator may send out a list of some timely articles or upcoming 3rd party activities, like a talk at the Commonwealth Club, as a potential springboard to provide focus, which are then voted on via the Internet. Alternatively, we may select a topic at the start of our gathering.

Diversity has become the holy grail of our times. but we consider that diverse groups can either add to or reduce the enjoyment of our get-togethers. Clearly political differences, thanks to our President, have grown more acrimonious making good conversation ever more elusive.

It is a truism that people prefer to associate with others like themselves. Except for some fraternal and religious organizations, both membership in affinity groups and trust have declined, coinciding with increases in immigration and the rise of ethnic, racial, and gender distinctions. This decline in group memberships is mostly explained by one variable: greater heterogeneity. In place of traditional organizations, more and more people have constructed silos of ideological homogeneity which have become echo chambers.

History and Culture

A community, region or nation’s social capital is stable over time when one looks at the large regional differences in social capital across the USA today which tend to correspond fairly closely to the differences in social capital among the nations from which the ancestors of today’s Americans came.

For example, the area around Minneapolis and St. Paul – the area of highest social capital in the USA – was populated with Scandinavians. Something has persisted over more than five generations, and separated by thousands of miles and different political structures, to explain why both the residents of Minnesota and the Scandinavian nations today remain so connected and trusting. This continuity is recently threatened by the immigration of Somalis into the Minneapolis region; and accounts for the rise of right leaning parties throughout Scandinavia and other European countries

Ethnic and Social Heterogeneity

There is considerable evidence that social and ethnic heterogeneity is associated with lower levels of social capital, not only between groups but within them. Data indicate that this may be one of the most powerful explanations of local and regional variations in social capital.

This finding is difficult to interpret. After all, the bridging among groups that eventually reduces long-term conflict cannot easily occur if we lack empathy. What really needs to be established is what factors facilitate the growth of social capital in contexts where the starting point is characterized by strong ethnic and social fissures but which hold out the possibility of an enriched community; acculturation not just assimilation. In other words, how do we go beyond the alienation that led to Trumpism.

One of our goals is to encourage more participation of those who may have stayed on the sidelines but possess the educated qualities that would enhance our dialogues. We want to invite them to our intellectual gatherings where all participants can bring their own unique ideas and questions to the table.

Clearly, one’s genes as well as class, gender, age, race, sexual orientation and the numerous other distinctions that seem so wrapped up in our identity these days, lead to our personal points of view. The CulturePlaces Salon provides more opportunities to compare these views on the ramifications of the changing social landscape constrained or enhanced by our biological influences. (Nurture/nature).

We have found that understanding the implications of our experiences emerge best through discourse, not absorbing more information. All that is required is a curious and probing mind and the capacity for dialogue (attributes that are too often missing in conversations around the water cooler or at the dinner table). And while we may wrestle with weighty matters that can ignite strong emotions, we want to be able to treat them playfully and with a disinterested passion for clarity that avoids partisanship, ad hominem arguments, grandstanding, or ax grinding.  Such a mental exercise results in pleasure and reduces the pain of confusion and discord that too many conversations can devolve into.

This conversational skill is not easily acquired. CulturePlaces Salonistas have demonstrated that they have the wherewithal to participate in our round tables.

For a few of our discussion programs, we invite someone, often an advocate or practitioner involved in some aspect of an issue, to join us as a resource person. This individual doesn't give a presentation, like a TED Talk, looking down on the audience as the "sage on the stage", but instead offers some preliminary remarks to launch our exploration and then serves as a kind of “river guide” to keep the discussion on course.

In most other get-togethers we utilize an author's talk, movie, play, article, podcast or video found on the Internet to spark our discussions. TED itself has finally launched TEDxSalons which allow attendees to discuss a TEDxTalk face to face, though most TEDx sites treat TEDxSalons as briefer versions of TEDx gatherings. The administrator may send out a list of some timely articles or upcoming third party activities, like a talk at the Commonwealth Club, as a potential springboard to provide focus, which are then voted on via the Internet. Alternatively, we may select a topic at our meetup.

The Threat and Promise of Diversity

 

Diversity has become the holy grail of our times. but we consider thatDiverse groups can either add to or reduce the enjoyment of our get-togethers. Clearly political differences, thanks to our President, have grown more acrimonious making good conversation ever more elusive.

It is a truism that people prefer to be with others like themselves.  With the exception of fraternal and religious organizations, both membership in affinity groups and trust have declined, coinciding with increases in immigration and the rise of ethnic, racial, and gender distinctions. This decline in group memberships is mostly explained by one variable: greater heterogeneity. In place of traditional organizations, more and more people have constructed silos of ideological homogeneity which have become echo chambers.

Demographics

A community, region or nation’s social capital is stable over time when one looks at the large regional differences in social capital across the USA today which tend to correspond fairly closely to the differences in social capital among the nations from which the ancestors of today’s Americans came.

For example, the area around Minneapolis and St. Paul – the area of highest social capital in the USA – was populated mostly by Scandinavians. Something has persisted over more than five generations, and separated by thousands of miles and different political structures, to explain why both the residents of Minnesota and the Scandinavian nations today remain so connected and trusting. This continuity is recently threatened by the immigration of Somalis into the Minneapolis region.

Ethnic and Social Heterogeneity 

There is considerable evidence that social and ethnic heterogeneity is associated with lower levels of social capital, not only between groups but within them. Data suggest that this may be one of the most powerful explanations of local and regional variations in social capital.

This finding is difficult to interpret. After all, the bridging among groups that eventually reduces long-term conflict cannot easily occur if we lack empathy. What really needs to be established is what factors facilitate the growth of social capital in contexts where the starting point is characterized by strong ethnic and social fissures but which hold out the possibility of an enriched community.  In other words, how do we go beyond the alienation that led to "Trumpism".

One of our goals is to encourage more participation of those who may have stayed on the sidelines but possess the educated qualities that would enhance our dialogues. We want to invite them to our intellectual potlucks where all participants can bring their own unique ideas and questions to the table.

 

ADDENDUM

Throughout human history, people have tended to live and die in the same place, or at least the same region, in which they're born. Place is an important part of one's identity.

 

Recently, we joined Philosophy Talk's John Perry and KenTaylor in Berkeley whose guest was India born UC Berkeley English Professor Bharati Mukherjee, author of Miss New India and other novels exploring migration, alienation, and identity. Afterwards, we walked over to the Jupiter restaurant for THE MAIN EVENT--our discussion--accompanied by pizza (voted best in the East Bay) and some brewskis.  We broke into smaller groups so all could participate and hear each other.

 

What psychological effects must many immigrants, exiles, and expatriates endure? Do we risk losing an important part of human life? Or do we gain freedom from the lottery of birth and assimilate into an unfamiliar environment

The ethnic and racial diversity were both irrelevant and advantageous for enhancing our discussion because of a diversity of experience. Miss New India (2011), in which Anjali leaves her traditional family in Bihar and moves to Bangalore. A woman determinedly pursuing personal happiness is a revolutionary – a threatening concept for her traditional parents.”

 

Another Facet of our Salon

 

On several occasions we combined our discussion with the rating and ranking of a select group of wines, resembling a co-ed ancient Greek symposium without the inebriation.  Click on this link for a description of a vino taste-off and conversation focusing on a presentation by SF Chronicle's urbqan design critic John King.

 

wsj

For several group gatherings we incorporated a wine component in the form of a mini people's choice wine taste-off. This added dimension reflects our populist times as well as my own anti-expert bias.  We assessed a mixed case of wines--the kind with a more attractive Qualilty Price Ratio (QPR) that you would have with Tuesday dinner at home.  They come from nonNapa appellations for obvious reasons of cost.

 

We share the perspective of Fred Franzia, who championed affordable wine and fathered “Two Buck Chuck” telling a group of journalists: “no wine should cost more than $10 including wines from Napa” In the future, we will also judge Napa vino which are normally offered for sale at a much higher price with only a few exceptions. We’ll see if Fred was right

 

“Our culture evolves around the acquisition of material goods, and that turns out to be a pretty dissatisfying pursuit. It is very important for people to have meaning and purpose in their lives and connection to other humans.”

              -Dr Dan Shapiro who defeated cancer and counsels other patients, in conversation with Jane Brody, New York Times. 

For another event we considered the following questions raised by the Oscars.  After the questions I have listed some links that provided more background..

Fully two-thirds of white voters without college degrees voted for Donald Trump, as did over 80 percent of white evangelicals.  Are we locked in class warfare?  Will the election season ever really end?

Do we live in a bubble producing a generation of liberals and progressives narcissistically unaware of conditions outside their self-defined groups, and indifferent to the task of reaching out to Americans in every walk of life as the Oscars proclaimed?

Can there be assimilation without resorting to a “whitelash” in Van Jones term, or “whitewash?

Can we achieve creating a sense of being in this together going beyond group identities or are we speaking different languages?

How do we bridge the chasm between classes and education levels?

At the Oscars it was mentioned that women do it better-- Opposing without hatred  Might this lead to a bias against women because, on average, they are less combative than men?

Do you agree that women approach the world differently?

Do those who argue for differences in gender and race deserve to be challenged or are these differences a starting point?

Christina Hoff Sommers recently defended herself against charges of misogyny and sexism for emphasizing how small average differences between the sexes at the ends of Bell Curve might lead to substantial differences in career choices and social interests.

Should Lawrence Sommers, a tireless advocate for equal treatment of women, be considered a sexist and fired as President of Harvard  for asserting that men seem to have a greater capacity for doing advanced mathematics?

Should we accept that men and women are different in some of their proclivities in part because of evolutionary pressures that shaped those differences in our species?

We know that STEM majors at elite universities are far more often men than women; conversely low-skilled men are becoming less employable than women, and are dropping out of the workforce at higher rates in industrialized countries ?  Any suggestions for improving these trends beside GE’s committment to adding 20,000 more women to their tech labor force.  Or Hyatt’s “Love Sweet Love”

Do you agree with this quote from Steven Pinker:  ”The desire to work with people versus things. There is an enormous average difference between women and men in this dimension…And this difference in interests will tend to cause people to gravitate in slightly different directions in their choice of career. The occupation that fits best with the “people” end of the continuum is “director of a community services organization.” The occupations that fit best with the “things” end are physicist, chemist, mathematician, computer programmer, and biologist.

Should we encourage people to sort themselves into college majors and job occupations that they’re reasonably good at and enjoy doing.

Is upholding orthodox Christian views of marriage and human sexuality not an act of hate? Is not expressing concern about the effect of large-scale immigration on wages and job opportunities an act of racism? 

------------------------------------------------------

"Homeplay" Assignment:

The titles below are also links that will take you to several short essays on our theme of 'isms' .

The End of Identity Liberalism 

How should this diversity shape our politics? The standard liberal answer for nearly a generation now has been that we should become aware of and “celebrate” our differences. Which is a splendid principle of moral pedagogy — but disastrous as a foundation for democratic politics in our ideological age. In recent years American liberalism has slipped into a kind of moral panic about racial, gender and sexual identity that has distorted liberalism’s message and prevented it from becoming a unifying force capable of governing.[click on the title to access the rest of the piece]

What is a sexist

 Like “racist”, the definition of “sexist” seems to have ballooned in such a way as to include any claim about average differences between males and females from the neck up. Some feminists, in particular, fear that assertions about differences between men and women threaten the social progress we’ve made over the past few centuries. Perhaps they have a point (as we discuss below). But we should consider whether such an expansive definition of sexism is helpful, or whether it actually represents a hindrance to moral progress.  

[click on the title to access the rest of the piece]

Is Wonder Woman being Forced into Early Retirement

It's come to light this week that the comic superhero's controversial tenure as the United Nations' honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls will be coming to a close this Friday.

That's less than two months since the character was unveiled as the face of a U.N. social media campaign to promote women's rights via tweets and facebook callouts. The decision sparked protests both in and out of the organization, with nearly 45,000 people ultimately signing an online petition that called the choice of a fictional character with "an overtly sexualized image" to represent gender equality "alarming" and "extremely disappointing."

What is a Racist? Why Moral Progress Hinges on Getting the Answer Right

The charge of “racist” represents a scalpel that has been substantially dulled in recent years. The result is an inability to cut cleanly around the cancerous tissue of racism. The term has been co-opted by well-meaning social justice advocates, and is no longer reserved for people who treat members of other groups as inherently inferior to members of their own group. Nor is it used to identify people who fail to treat members of other groups as the individuals that they are. Instead, “racist” is casually hurled at anyone who expresses ideas that have been emblazoned on an intellectual “no-fly list.”[click on the title to access the rest of the piece]

Progressive Orthodoxy Narrows Choices and Minds

DAVID FRENCH, NATIONAL REVIEW

Millions of Americans are furious with the scolding progressive impulse that’s branded “political correctness.”

‘Identity Politics’ Address Real Problems of Discrimination

IMANI PERRY, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

We have a long history of responding to the suffering of “working class whites” by maintaining their status above others.

Political Correctness Reflects Crises More Than It Causes Them

JIM SLEEPER, YALE UNIVERSITY

Legitimate criticism of overreactions to racism needs to account for other real concerns that have angered and frightened some groups.

Declining Status Leads to Resentment of P.C.

ROBB WILLER, STANFORD UNIVERSTIY

Even people who harbor consciously negative views of minority groups rarely see themselves as racist.

An Identity Politics Where ‘Victims’ Vanquish Others

MICHELLE GARCIA, DIRECTOR, "AGAINST MEXICO"

A culture of siege produces victims, and victims will sacrifice anything for their survival, even democracy itself.

Rather than try to tackle complex national and international issues and institutions that affect the entire U.S. , we concentrate on place based trends and academic research that more directly reflect our everyday experiences in our own neighborhoods, workplaces, and other closer connections. We seek to grapple with ideas that stem from and have immediate implications for our personal ties and intellectual enjoyment. We deal with those grassroots issues not to influence public policy or resolve differences but to gain an understanding of the way of the world-- in order to sort out the chaos and thereby increase our pleasure.

We start from the premise that changing the body politic at the state and national level is becoming increasingly difficult for citizens of the 21st century in the way that the power structure was able to do at the start of the 20th century, when American Progressivism was imbued with a strong reformist optimism.  “I propose that we lead” declared Edward Adams in the paper delivered at the organizational dinner of the Commonwealth Club of California in 1907. That determination has long since been replaced by anger or apathy, cynicism or irony. Were it not otherwise, the Commonwealth Club would still be engaged in “public service” i.e. attempting through their long standing “Study Sections” to help shape California laws and regulations. Now only specialists attached to policy institutes and politicians’ offices can comprehend such complicated issues, not to mention offsetting the power of money.

We therefore put aside debates over broad public policy matters such as “the media”, health care, diplomacy, climate change, and immigration policies that require a level of expertise that defeats all but the most determined policy wonk.  Or they happen in our everyday interactions but devolve into heated rants.

That said, however, certain patterns of actions associated with racial, gender, and employment relations, for instance, have various impacts affecting human activity around the world including strong influence over our own daily lives. These human tendencies, we believe, can best be examined as they are manifested in particular contexts which we call CulturePlaces.

By culture we mean the normative order, grounded and manifested in specific places, explained by the behavioral sciences, and illuminated and animated by the arts and humanities, which allows us to comprehend ourselves, others, and the world around us, and through which we make sense of our experience.  We probe what has been called the Human Condition with an emphasis on societal trends and artistic expressions that we experience in our own lives and provide texture and insight leading to pleasure. In short, culture is shared meaning.

For places of culture to be more than divertissements, they must be pertinent to the formation of our values and bonds of friendship, what has come to be referred to among academics as adding to our “social capital”. Social capital is the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to a durable network of relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition – or in other words, to involvement in a close knit group.

One of the most prominent figures in this field, Harvard professor Robert Putnam, has described social capital as: “…features of social life – networks, norms, and trust – that enable participants ... to pursue shared objectives…" Having fewer social relationships to lean on will have implications for boomers’ quality of life. As Putnam notes, “[s]ocial isolation is widely recognized as a strong predictor of morbidity and mortality, especially among the elderly.” That said, however, we also accept that perspectives will vary. We expect and encourage differing opinions.  But there is a commonality of rules of engagement--ways of behaving in our exchanges.

Insights into CulturePlaces provide significance and purpose which contributes to our happiness.   Observations that we accumulate not through “knowing more and more about less and less,” as scholars do, but just by living a cosmopolitan life in the Bay Area. These intellectual perambulations equip us to form opinions that deserve to be explored by others who share an interest in the deeper significance of events and related information.

We emphasize dialogue among participants of our salon not passively watching lectures or panel exchanges. As the great polymath Sir David McKay wrote in his book on sustainable energy Without Hot Air,  "Convictions are stronger if they are self generated, rather than taught"

Rafting the Cultural Currents of the New Millennium

"To enter the current of this poem is to hurtle downstream through history on a flood of eloquent and passionate language that is in turn philosophic, satiric, tender, angry, ironic, sensuous, and, above all, elegiac.”

  -Helen Vendler on “A Treatise on Poetry” by Czeslaw Milosz

A pop-up Epicurus Café at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay

“Our culture evolves around acquisition of material goods, and that turns out to be a pretty dissatisfying pursuit. It is very important for people to have meaning and purpose in their lives and connection to other humans.”

-Dr Dan Shapiro who defeated cancer and counsels other patients, in conversation with Jane Brody, New York Times

Clearly, one’s genes as well as class, gender, age, race, sexual orientation and the numerous other distinctions that seem so wrapped up in our identity these days, lead to our personal points of view. The CulturePlaces Salon provides more opportunities to compare these views on the ramifications of the changing social landscape constrained or enhanced by our biological influences. (Nurture/nature)

We have found that understanding the implications of our experiences emerge best through discourse, not absorbing more information. All that is required is a curious and probing mind and the capacity for dialogue (attributes that are too often missing in conversations around the water cooler or at the dinner table). And while we may wrestle with weighty matters that can ignite strong emotions, we want to be able to treat them playfully and with a disinterested passion for clarity that avoids partisanship, ad hominem arguments, grandstanding, or ax grinding.  Such a mental exercise results in pleasure and reduces the pain of confusion and discord that too many conversations can devolve into.

This conversational skill is not easily acquired. CulturePlaces Salonistas have demonstrated that they have the wherewithal to participate in our round tables

For a few of our discussion programs, we invite someone, often an advocate or practitioner involved in some aspect of an issue, to join us as a resource person. This individual doesn't give a presentation, like a TED Talk, looking down on the audience as the "sage on the stage", but instead offers some preliminary remarks to launch our exploration and then serves as a kind of “river guide” to keep the discussion on course.

In most other get-togethers we utilize an author's talk, movie, play, article, podcast or video found on the Internet to spark our discussions. TED itself has finally launched TEDxSalons which allow attendees to discuss a TEDxTalk face to face, though most TEDx sites treat TEDxSalons as briefer versions of TEDx gatherings. The administrator may send out a list of some timely articles or upcoming third party activities, like a talk at the Commonwealth Club, as a potential springboard to provide focus, which are then voted on via the Internet. Alternatively, we may select a topic at our meetup.

The Threat and Promise of Diversity

Diversity has become the holy grail of our times. but we consider that diverse groups can either add to or reduce the enjoyment of our get-togethers. Clearly political differences, thanks to our President, have grown more acrimonious making good conversation ever more elusive.

It is a truism that people prefer to be with others like themselves.  With the exception of fraternal and religious organizations, both membership in affinity groups and trust have declined, coinciding with increases in immigration and the rise of ethnic, racial, and gender distinctions. This decline in group memberships is mostly explained by one variable: greater heterogeneity. In place of traditional organizations, more and more people have constructed silos of ideological homogeneity which have become echo chambers.

History and Culture

A community, region or nation’s social capital is stable over time when one looks at the large regional differences in social capital across the USA today which tend to correspond fairly closely to the differences in social capital among the nations from which the ancestors of today’s Americans came.

For example, the area around Minneapolis and St. Paul – the area of highest social capital in the USA – was populated with Scandinavians. Something has persisted over more than five generations, and separated by thousands of miles and different political structures, to explain why both the residents of Minnesota and the Scandinavian nations today remain so connected and trusting. This continuity is recently threatened by the immigration of Somalis into the Minneapolis region.

Ethnic and Social Heterogeneity

There is considerable evidence that social and ethnic heterogeneity is associated with lower levels of social capital, not only between groups but within them. Data suggest that this may be one of the most powerful explanations of local and regional variations in social capital.

This finding is difficult to interpret. After all, the bridging among groups that eventually reduces long-term conflict cannot easily occur if we lack empathy. What really needs to be established is what factors facilitate the growth of social capital in contexts where the starting point is characterized by strong ethnic and social fissures but which hold out the possibility of an enriched community.  In other words, how do we go beyond the alienation that led to "Trumpism".

One of our goals is to encourage more participation of those who may have stayed at the fringes but possess the educated qualities that would enhance our dialogues. We want to invite them to our intellectual potlucks where all participants can bring their own unique ideas and questions to the table.