Social Correlates of Hogwarts Houses

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 174978

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nitalynx" <nitalynx at ...> wrote:
>

> So, it's bravery, daring, nerve, chivalry and boldness.
> 
> I agree that these people are great to have around in dangerous
> situations, but I don't think they make good leaders in general.
> Firstly because they would tend to get restless and irritable 
during a
> long peacetime, and secondly because rushing headlong into danger
> sometimes results in bad consequences for everyone involved.


Depnds on what you look for in a leader.  Certainly almost all of the 
leader figures JKR lauds are Gryffindors.  I think the type of 
leadership they are meant to provide is leadership by example.  They 
are the warrior chieftans that rush into battle at the head of their 
troops, the law partners who take on pro bono cases themselves, etc.  
This seems to be the kind of leadership JKR admires.

> 
> So, a steady mind, wit, learning, cleverness, intelligence - all
> things brain-related.
> 
> Hmm, why artists? Of course, all sorts of intellectual snobs, these
> days also known as geeks and nerds, fit very nicely in here. And 
many
> of them would very much like the world to go away and leave them 
alone
> with their pet theories / experiments / creations / objects of 
research :)


Yes, I would say that's what I'm getting at.  Many varieties of 
personality analysis point out that artists and intellectuals are 
much more similar than most people realize, indeed the boundary 
between them is notoriously blurred.  Both live primarily in their 
own thoughts.  Both become enraptured with their own mental/physical 
constructs.  And both have a tendancy to be at best withdrawn and at 
worst prickly, hysteric prima-donnas.


> 
> Well. Cunning, using any means to achieve one's ends, ambition and
> blood purity (though, evidently, half-bloods are OK?).
> 
> Minus the ancestry bit, these are the right qualities for a leader:
> the military strategist type (see Sun Tzu's "Art of War"), the power
> behind the throne type, or the modern clever manager type. They are
> also the qualities that drive progress the most, IMO. Developing and
> implementing new ideas requires the efforts of very motivated
> individuals. I'm not one of them, but I do appreciate their 
contribution.
> 

I see what you mean.  However, going with canon, it doesn't seem that 
JKR would agree.  Her notions of leadership make her extremely 
suspicious of ambition and cunning -- which is odd considering how 
large those figure in DD's character.  Yet, I think we are meant to 
see those aspects of Dumbledore as problematic, and DD himself 
indicates as much.  Indeed, I'd say the closest we have to a clear 
statement on leadership from JKR is when Dumbledore says that you 
probably should never give power to someone who wants it -- i.e. 
don't give it to him, and don't give it to a Slytherin.


Lupinlore