“I am cutting off my friend list” is a common phrase on social media and different life-words. Some people feel like shedding off their network of friends is better than keeping them around. They see little value in them. Probably they feel inconvenienced. They need space, they want to be alone and see the world in their single-view. No one should invade their created privacy! It's of course your right to choose who to network with and who not to...
However, I am arguing within social capital virtues that networks are very important resources in any circle of life. Even ants have networks that they collectively work with to build ant-hills. It’s not a daft undertaking having networks. It pays off well both in economic, social and circus life. To bring it closer, let me use the example of finding a school place, especially in the Zambian context.
School places either at primary, secondary or tertiary level is very strenuous. They are getting fewer every day. Teachers are becoming very good networks in finding school places. They are the managers of schools. They decide who gets a place and who doesn’t in their schools. They are simply dons :-)
I had always wondered why one of my sisters who is a teacher/lecturer keeps a chain of networks in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. I found it belabouring at the first glance. I perfectly understood when I was once involved in finding a school place for my nephew in primary school. Schools have all sorts of excuses and reasons to deny you a place. You will really feel how strong school managers are when looking for a school place. They can make you dance their music.
But with my sister, she could simply either call one of her former pupil or student who is a teacher and ‘bingo’ the school place is offered. Simple as such, that’s how things work in this era. You need to “know someone.” You need good networks; networks that can keep you in the loop on many things in life.
Pundits like Karl Marx and his disciples have put it networks (in the academia, social life, economical and cultural arenas) are 'glue’ that sticks society together for its betterment. One post-Marxist, Pierre Bourdieu argues that networks are not only about loose associations for ‘playing games of amusement’ but are about institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society's social interactions. Our networks underpin our society, they are the ‘glue that holds people together.’ We all depend on a network of some kind to get things moving in life.
Most of us have contacted friends before to ‘cough out’ something for paying off some debt or other life hiccups. Or your uncle or aunt once sent you to one of their networks for a school place, job or favour that added great value to your life. Some of us have gotten jobs through our networks’ networks. Someone connected us to someone who made things move. That is how life is, it revolves around networks. From biblical recordings, we see Lot and Abraham using their pastoral networks to acquire livestock for their well-being. The creation story equally presents some level of network where God spoke and creation of the earth and everything on it happened. We seen spiritual networks co-constructing the earth and its inhabitants.
What kinds of networks exist?
Networks can be vertical or horizontal. Our vertical networks are those at our level, below and above us. They can be our former professors, teachers, bosses in places of work, foreign associates, etc. Horizontal ones are those on our level in life. They could be classmates, fellow working class (holding similar positions), business partners, fellow unmarried, etc. We need both types of networks for our success in life.
Internet has created another set of networks ashore from our locality. Some of the networks we can share knowledge resources are: professional think tanks, social movements, financial analysts, etc. Facebook has become one of the powerful resources for network creation and connecting with others. Professional pages share useful resources of knowledge that can change lives. There is a page for “small farmers in Zambia” for instance, which shares immense information on various issues concerning farming. New entrants in farming are benefiting a great deal.
Networks pay off, depending on how you treat its members. You can’t beg anyone to be part of your network, but your attitude, actions and concern to them when they need you would add value to the longevity of your networks. We need to wisely identify networks and network members to keep within your ambit. You can’t please everyone, but you can build working network relationship for rainy days. You can’t tell who becomes who in future; thus you can’t carelessly shed off people simply out of excitement that you are far ahead of them in life or something of that sort. Maturity, gestures of appreciation and virtuousness are important traits to exhibit within networks.
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