Social Aggregate Vectors
Since it's a holiday weekend and all, I thought it'd be a good time to talk about something a little less tech and a little more sociology - social aggregation vectors. What are the factors that gravitate us towards some and repel us from others? Though it might seem obvious, consider the following:
- Gender
- Physical Appearance
- Religion
- Socio-Economic status
- Race
- ... Stature?
As a New Yorker, I enjoy taking part in one of my favorite hobbies - people watching. Over the years, I've noticed that groups of friends tend to be more or less the same height. I got to thinking that it was about a comfortability "threshold" if you will. I've found that many shorter folks I've talked to either disliked or tended to distrust taller people. Further investigation revealed that the reason for this was that the short felt a similar aversion/prejudice from the tall. If we assume that it is easier to hang out with those who are similar to us, would height not be one of the easiest factors to quantify against? You can be a Republican, an introvert, an avid Hip-Hop fan, or a Movie Star, but it is difficult to assign a hard value to those traits and personalities. Could this be only in big cities where heights are more varied due to the general diversity of the masses?
Of course there are exceptions to this theory and many of you might be thinking this is absolute hogwash. Or perhaps I place more value on the issue of stature because I'm 5'5". Either way this leads me to my next question. How important is the context that defines a relationship in relation to the vector? Some different contextual environments might include:
- workplace
- academic setting
- gender
- family
- internet groups
- history
Two friends might hang out together simply because they work in the same place or are working on a group project for school. A person's gender will most likely have an impact on the way you tend to judge his/her physical characteristics or personality traits. Your best friend might be a whole foot taller than you, but your common history of 23 years is the tie that binds. Socio-economic factors might not be a factor when you're in a cultural club.
There are an infinite number of vectors vs. context scenarios that can be considered, some perhaps even subconscious that we may not even be aware of. It's something we don't think about day to day, but it's an interesting exercise to consider why we befriend certain people and why we stray from others.
As I've found little documented evidence that lends credence or disproves my stature theory, I've put together the highly unscientific poll.
Greg, thanks for the guest blogging opportunity. Ok everyone, now rant away.