Social Engagement

Just imagine a new personal endeavour…

What is going through your head? Creating an endeavour is not like turning on a light switch, is it? It is a dynamic and continuing process. As soon as you have a goal (e.g. an activity, knowledge, a relationship, useful experience, product, service, new enterprise &c), your next thoughts are probably about the social aspects: what will my spouse say, who will join me? Where do I create it? How do I handle the financial implications? Why should others support it? How can I persuade people? How do I find that expert I need? Are there legal issues?

Having worked out the interplay between my autonomy and external constraints, I must ensure that I am properly plugged into my social setting.

In the four Levels where the autonomous v constrained polarity is fused, the personal v social tension is handled naturally, spontaneously and partly unconsciously within the Centre i.e. simultaneously and progressively as situations are handled. However, the three bipolar levels are more problematic. These present differences that can grow over time, and they must be resolved by active attention and adjustments.

PURPOSE: RL6_A ↔ RL6_C 

My goals-RL6_A must accord broadly with doctrines and norms-RL6_C in my relevant social group(s). Ignoring contextual needs: flouting conventions, rejecting obligations, breaking contracts or (at the extreme) breaking laws is predictably deleterious, if not fatal, to an endeavour. The influence is not one way. My group's doctrines and norms ideally legitimate my goal, but my goal also provides legitimacy to the group. After all, a group that generates no activity and has no effects in society wins little respect.

Channel Force: Legitimate

COMMUNICATION: RL5_A ↔ RL5_C

Any formal specification-RL5_C must be based on what is required or involved in the endeavour, and that can only come from informal accounts-RL5_A. At the same time, if informal accounts do not refer to and explain technicalities and their relevance, then they will be unsatisfactory. What is evidently required is that each pole of communication must explain the other in its own way.

Channel Force: Explain

CHANGE: RL3_C ↔ RL3_A

A desired actualizable state-RL_A must exist within a complicated socio-physical environment. It therefore looks across the self-situation divide to harness and ride the natural trends and forces in the environment. This is more productive than ignoring or fighting them. Necessary adaptations-RL3_C primarily seek to reconcile impersonal forces with preferred states of the endeavour. These also look across the divide to accord with developments that are desired. Both Centres can and should try to help each other.

Channel Force: Facilitate

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• Social engagement being enabled, via legitimation, explanation and facilitation, actualization can commence.

Originally posted : 13-Aug-2011. Updated 5-Jul-2013