Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Social Currency, Bangalore, India, Ash
Social Currencies, Aishwarya and Purnima, Bangalore, India
December 30, 2008.
The two sisters like to stand out in every act and relationship. They have personalized their Orkut and Facebook pages and at a young age marked their arrival in the digital world.
Conversation with sisters Aishwarya and Purnima gives an insight into social currencies and expressions of social status. Aishwarya (18) and Purnima (15) hail from Bangalore. Aishwarya lives with her parents and two younger siblings in Indira Nagar and Purnima is currently a high school student in a boarding school in Ooty. Aishwarya recently graduated from a reputed private school – Ryan International and is currently pursuing her MBA in the Center for Management Studies in Bangalore.
Their extended family of uncles, aunts and cousins live in and around Bangalore city. They usually keep in touch with their family through personal visits and cell phone calls. During the interview, Aishwarya and Purnima shed light on many aspects of their social life that determine the expression of their social status and “coolness.”
Living in a socially recognized area
Aishwarya and Purnima’s parents live in an upscale neighborhood. That Indira Nagar is home to many “senior IAS and IPS officers” makes it a “socially well-recognized area”. Their house is in close proximity to some very new shopping malls and restaurants. Living among the power elite and in an emerging commercial hub has a significant status value.
Schooling
Education and schooling has an important role in expressing social status. “St. Hildas is the most prestigious boarding school in Ooty” says Purnima. Aishwarya refers to the Center for Management Studies as “First order, most posh.” The sisters speak about these educational institutions as status markers.
Online Community
Online social networking sites, Facebook and Orkut play a critical role in defining Aishwarya and Purnima’s relationships with friends and acquaintances. In many ways, these online communities reflect their “coolness.” Aishwarya has 145 friends on Facebook. She has a best friends circle and party friends circle. Purnima has an Orkut account. “Orkut is more user-friendly and Facebook more complicated”, she says. They use Facebook and Orkut to chat, network, make new friends, and to post messages on the wall. “It is cool to have international friends.” Aishwarya has many international friends- friends made during her youth conference trip to Washington D.C and other places. She tells us that some of her friends send Facebook and Orkut invites to people from UK and South Africa- only because it looks good to have international friends.
Digital Status
Aishwarya likes to use most recent technology and media devices. It is “cool to have an apple computer so will get that and ishuffle.” She uses the ipod-“ its cool among friends”- “it makes me feel good if I have an Apple and something superior to others.” She learns about most of the recent technology from friends who travel internationally. Technological acquisition and the urge for status enhancement are compatible values for the sisters.
Other Status Markers: Clothes, Shoes, Language
Purnima tells us that wearing ‘hep’ clothes differentiates her from others in the Boarding school. “Cool clothes, we wear hep clothes, stylish, we don’t repeat clothes. It’s been 6 months- I have not repeated any clothes.” While talking about her sister, Aishwarya says, “She has so many Puma clothes, people over there think my dad owns Puma.”
South Indian accent is not considered to be “cool.” An acceptable language involves an accent without native mixtures. Cool language requires the frequent use of the “right lingo”. To illustrate, Purnima describes: “earlier, if you made a mistake, you would say, I have had it from the teacher. But now, it is cool to say I am screwed- that’s cooler.”
Other accessories like shoes are also symbolic markers- “Reebok and all, Nike and all- I recently bought a Reebok shoe, others on my basketball team do not have such good ones” says Prunima.
Travel
Aishwarya has traveled a lot. She has attended an International Youth Conference in Washington D.C. She has also visited Germany. She says she puts dots on Facebook to mark all the places she has been to. Purnima has been to China.
Peer Acceptability.
They consider themselves to be popular. Aishwarya was in her college fest team- a highly sort after position. “Lot of people want to get into our group- 3 of us do not care for anyone- my friend recently got a BMW 5 series and then got a Mazda 3 series –people like our group very much- we study- enjoy- and stay in our limits- that’s why people like our group and then I got into the fest team which is really difficult…” says Aishwarya. They are aware of their upper class status and the fact that their father is rich and well known in the community is reflected in their peer selection and acceptability.
Aspiration
In 5 years, Aishwarya and Purnima see more freedom, more cars, houses- “I like more cars, guest houses, farm houses… I like luxury living. I will be asking my dad for Audi soon. I get more satisfaction through gadgets… If I get an Audi, I will take it to college, if 1 person knows the entire college will know that I have the Audi” says Aishwarya. If I get an Audi, I will take it to college, if 1 person knows the entire college will know that I have the audi.