We had a good discussion about the homework assignment. Some investigators brought multiple newspaper and magazine articles about the economy. One of the articles that an investigator brought summed up my personal view of the economy: the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer and the middle class is stuck in a recession (even though it supposedly ended in summer 2009). One of the investigators didn't bring an article, but shared an observation. He noticed a pack of cigarettes was labelled "made in Japan" which spawned a discussion about jobs being outsourced to other countries and the various reasons why that happens.
Another discussion in this session was the social capital mental model: bonding vs. bridging capital. Bonding capital includes close relationships while bridging capital is more like who's in your network. The categories of social capital are: friends, work, spiritual, schools, clubs, agencies, household and other family. The investigators drew a pie chart with each slice labeled with one of the aforementioned categories and listed people from each category who would fit the criteria for bonding or bridging capital. I did the activity for myself out of curiosity. Personally it was easier to name people in the bonding category. It was more difficult to remember specific names when thinking of bonding capital, especially when it came to agencies and clubs. It's easier to name the agency or club rather than who I'm connected to. The investigators were able to identify many more people in the bonding category than the bridging category. One investigator's pie chart was completely empty and he claimed that he has no one in his life.
We also dissected a few case studies and assigned numerical ratings to the resources involved in each scenario on a scale of 1-5. The investigators loved discussing the scenarios and even suggested doing a few on their own for homework!
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