Apr 2003

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RW DGM's Message for April 2003

SOCIAL CAPITAL - MASONRY'S ROLE

Recently the term 'Social Capital' has entered the Lexicon of the language of Economists, spilling over from the domain of sociologists.

Traditionally Economists have believed that human beings are simply interested in their selfish goals and that the market is guided by self-serving human decisions which serve the common good. Economists are now trying to analyse social capital, roughly defined as the accretion of social contacts, social skills, and generally an investment in personal relationships. The orthodox assumption of economists therefore that human beings are essentially selfish is being challenged by the idea that trust, personal relationship and community can make a difference between wealth and poverty. People's accretion or stock of social capital is counted by the number of organisations, charities and religious groups and so on, to which they are affiliated.

Social capital can therefore, it is argued, be built up just as we save and build financial assets or human capital by investing in education and the acquisition of skills.

This line of thinking has great significance to a country such as India where apart from the disadvantages of poverty, the absence of any kind of social security net leaves its citizens without the required protection, particularly at the two ends of the social spectrum, the very young and the ageing.

Masons therefore can and must subscribe to the stock of social capital, by doing which they become ornaments to the society to which we belong and contribute to making a difference between wealth and poverty. They need not be reminded that Masonry took root almost three hundred years ago in this sub-continent, precisely because it satisfied such a need - to act as a Welfare support system for its members. We now, of course serve the general public, as well, within our respective capacities from the collections we make strictly from within our own membership.