Dane’s fourth podcast episode with Robbie is filled with optimism that can bring about hope in the most cynical of us all. He reminds us that teams are not just comprised of companies or departments – they’re communities, families, and people who’ve never met. They protest in the streets together, knowing that individual action can become collective action. His thought leadership made me realize that we need and are using the sociological imagination more than ever to create social change.
The Sociological Imagination
The Sociological Imagination (C. Wright Mills 1959) is a term used by social scientists to describe the need to understand that individual circumstance are impacted by social contexts and, conversely, that individuals also have the ability to impact society. Mills (1959) uses the example of a person trying to find a job in a suffering economy to illustrate his point. If the person only focuses on their personal situation, their inability to find a job, they might feel hopeless and deflated. Suppose that person understands that the economy is suffering. In that case, they understand how their personal experience is impacted by the social environment, which can provide perspective and a better strategy for improving their and others’ chances in the labor market. On a societal level, when millions of individuals are searching for but cannot find a job, this forces us to ask why this is happening. It is much more challenging to attribute difficulty in landing a job to individual failure. We recognize that we have a societal problem rather than dismissing it as people who aren’t working hard or smart enough. The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about just such a circumstance.
In listening to Robbie’s conversation, it became apparent to me that now, more than ever, individuals and organizations realize the importance of social context and that their individual actions can lead to societal change. And that’s important because it allows them to consider how they can have a social impact.
Narcissism at Its Finest – Literally
So, why do I think this?
Because Robbie’s conversation with Dane discusses how three groups of people relentlessly criticized for putting themselves first are at the forefront of attempting to solve social problems. Those three familiar narcissists are:
- Corporations
- Millennials and Gen Z
- Celebrities
There are a million reasons to view any of these groups as narcissists. We know that Facebook previously allowed fake news to be shared without warning because it generated more profit for the company (Cohan 2016). Some research indicates that Millennials and Gen Z are more narcissistic than previous generations (Stein 2013, Klemt 2019). For example, Millennials previously believed they should be promoted every two years regardless of job performance (Stein 2013). And even a beloved celebrity, Reese Witherspoon, yelled, “Do you know my name?” at a cop while her husband was pulled over for drunk driving (Dobbins 2013).
Nevertheless, Robbie argues that these three groups bring about profound social change, and research backs his claim (Sparks and Honey 2021, Peterson et al. 2018).
Corporations
In 2018, corporations made up five percent of charitable giving (Sparks and Honey 2021). However, that number is misleading as foundations made up 20 percent of charitable giving in 2018 (Sparks and Honey 2021), and many corporations have corporate foundations. For example, at HUDDL3, we donate HUDDL3 dollars to solve societal problems, but most of our corporate giving comes from our TeamUP Foundation. This indicates that the five percent figure is a low estimate, and it is much higher.
Millennials and Gen Z
In 2020, Millennials and Gen Z saw a significant leap forward in their attempt to bring issues of racial justice, climate change, and wealth inequality to the nation’s consciousness (Sparks and Honey 2021). Moreover, while Millennials hold less than 20 percent of generational household wealth in the United States, 56 percent donate to charity. Although this is less than the average American (Jones 2020), experts point out that, due to their lower proportion of household wealth, Millennials most significant giving years are still decades into the future (Sparks & Honey 2021). Millennials and Gen Z have the most significant impact in persuading older, more financially secure generations to donate to pressing social problems and create a sense of urgency for addressing pressing social and cultural issues (Sparks & Honey 2021).
Celebrities
It’s difficult to find research that tells us what percentage of celebrities give back or what percentage of their net worth they give back – and that makes sense because those numbers are likely challenging to track. However, anecdotally, we know that celebrities often act as the spokesperson for a nonprofit or start their own foundations. For example, Daniel Radcliffe recorded a PSA for the Trevor Project. Orlando Bloom worked to create visibility for UNICEF. Taylor Swift encourages young people to participate in Global Youth Service Day. Additionally, many celebrities also donate to charitable causes through their Foundations: George Lucas has the George Lucas Education Foundation, Jerry Seinfeld has the Seinfeld Family Foundation, and Angelina Jolie has the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation. Thus, there are ample examples of celebrities giving back by shining a light on non-profits or financially giving to causes they support.
What Gives – Literally
Robbie mentions that money alone can’t solve all of our societal problems, and he’s right to note this as we often make the mistake of thinking that if we throw enough money at a societal problem, we can fix it. Instead, all these organizations are giving what they can. Wealthy corporations are donating what they can – money. Millennials and Gen Z contribute what they can – time to advocate for the issue. Celebrities donate what they can – a spotlight on the topic or money.*
Each group recognizes that their actions as a person or an organization are capable of impacting societal change. And that’s important to affect social change.
Thus, two things are clear:
- The sociological imagination helps individuals to understand social contexts and their ability to affect change. And that matters.
- Narcissistic or not, people tend to be altruistic.
*It’s outside the parameters of this article to determine why these people and organizations are traditionally socially constructed as narcissistic and yet acting otherwise (I may be failing as a Millennial to devote the time to answer that question). In his podcast with Dane, Robbie argued that we lean toward altruism as humans. If so, that could explain why some of our most familiar narcissists feel the need to contribute to solving social problems. It’s also possible that a certain level of narcissism is required to believe that one organization or individual can help solve our society’s most extensive social issues.
References
- Cohan, Peter. 2016. “Does Facebook Generate Over Half of Its Ad Revenue From Fake News?” https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2016/11/25/does-facebook-generate-over-half-its-revenue-from-fake-news/?sh=5b9fdb76375f
- Dobbins, Amanda. 2013. “Reese Witherspoon Is Very Sorry She Drunkenly Yelled At A Police Officer” https://www.vulture.com/2013/04/reese-witherspoon-is-sorry-she-said-those-things.html#:~:text=Reese%20Witherspoon%20Is%20Very%20Sorry%20She%20Drunkenly%20Yelled%20at%20a%20Police%20Officer,-By%20Amanda%20Dobbins&text=%E2%80%9CI%20do%20want%20to%20say,not%20reflect%20who%20I%20am.
- Klemt, David. 2019. “Is the Millennial Workforce Self-Absorbed? Yes, But It’s Complicated” https://www.barandrestaurant.com/people/millennial-workforce-self-absorbed-yes-its-complicated#:~:text=Your%20Gen%20Z%20workforce%20is,today%2C%20congratulations%E2%80%94you%20matured.
- Jones, Jeffrey. 2020. “Percentage of Americans Donating to Charity at New Low” https://news.gallup.com/poll/310880/percentage-americans-donating-charity-new-low.aspx
- Mills, C. Wright. [1959] 2000. The Sociological Imagination. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press.
- Peterson N, Tripoli E, Langenbach K, Devasagayam R. 2018.”Celebrity Endorsements and Donations: Empirical Investigation of Impact on Philanthropic Giving.” Business Perspectives and Research. 6(2):79-89. doi:10.1177/2278533718765533
- sparks & honey. 2021. “Future of Giving” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b553895697a98cf2cef2bc6/t/6176d834bf198043fa65f5d3/1635178548585/MFF_sh_FutureofGiving_FINAL.pdf
- Stein, Joel. 2013. “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation” https://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/