Wednesday, October 06, 2010

John Hagel nails The Social Network as a netocratic text.

The movie reeks of obsession with status. It is set largely on the Harvard campus where, for many, status is everything. Of course, simply being a student at Harvard is a mark of status. This becomes clear from the first scene when Mark Zuckerberg’s girlfriend from Boston University is made painfully aware that Harvard is better. But Harvard students are themselves made aware that there is a deeper hierarchy even at this pinnacle – real status is being “punched” to join one of the elite and very private social clubs at Harvard, and there is a pronounced hierarchy even among and within these clubs.

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