Thought Paper 6: Generosity and Sociality

I think the chapter from the book, “What We Want is Free,” called “A Call for Sociality” by Jeanne van Heeswijk fit in perfectly after our screen printing session for our Generosity City project. Heeswijk sort of criticized the term “generosity projects” as it was a name for a symposium that he went to. He called it an oxymoron. I completely agree, which is where I also think the line becomes a little hazy when talking about generosity. If generosity is thought of as a project, then the whole concept behind generosity being a selfless good deed without any intention of being noticed or rewarded is gone. Being a project, it is purposefully asking for attention. However, a project is also bringing people together, and if it’s goal is to be generous, then the project is not really being selfish. The term, generous, might just be the wrong idea for the project. This is where Heeswijk brings in the idea of sociality, coined by sociologist Scott Lash.

            Jeanne van Heeswijk uses the example of turning parts of a town into areas where the residents come together and interact with each other, acting as a community. In my opinion, I actually think that sociality is more progressive than generosity. I know they can’t really be compared because generosity is more of an instinct sort of thing rather than something that serves a purpose. However, in terms of projects, sociality makes more sense because the purpose is clearer and there is no hazy line of the definition of the term.

            Sociality as a concept is something I think designers need to try and call more attention to. Throughout this class we are talking about all the ways in which design can be used for good as opposed to turning viewers into consumers using deceiving and tricky tactics. We’ve covered propaganda and campaigns. I think that another idea could be sociality projects. Especially in this day and age, where people seem so disconnected whether by technology, competition to be at the top, money, etc, we could really use more ways in which we connect to each other again and interact within our own species instead of inanimate objects or being solely driven by individual goals.