Showing papers on "Reciprocity (social psychology) published in 2001"
TL;DR: The authors show that subjects are more concerned with increasing social welfare, sacrificing to increase the payoffs for all recipients, especially low-payoff recipients, than with reducing differences in payoffs.
Abstract: Departures from self-interest in economic experiments have recently inspired models of ?social preferences?. We design a range of simple experimental games that test these theories more directly than existing experiments. Our experiments show that subjects are more concerned with increasing social welfare?sacrificing to increase the payoffs for all recipients, especially low-payoff recipients?than with reducing differences in payoffs (as supposed in recent models). Subjects are also motivated by reciprocity: They withdraw willingness to sacrifice to achieve a fair outcome when others are themselves unwilling to sacrifice, and sometimes punish unfair behavior.
2,055 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a typology describes the evolution of groups through three stages, and indicates what kinds of policy support are needed to safeguard and spread achievements in watershed, irrigation, microfinance, forest, and integrated pest management.
1,681 citations
TL;DR: In recent years, experimental economists have gathered overwhelming evidence that systematically refutes the self-interest hypothesis and suggests that many people are strongly motivated by concerns for fairness and reciprocity as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Most economic models are based on the self-interest hypothesis that assumes that all people are exclusively motivated by their material self-interest. In recent years experimental economists have gathered overwhelming evidence that systematically refutes the self-interest hypothesis and suggests that many people are strongly motivated by concerns for fairness and reciprocity. Moreover, several theoretical papers have been written showing that the observed phenomena can be explained in a rigorous and tractable manner. These theories in turn induced a new wave of experimental research offering additional exciting insights into the nature of preferences and into the relative performance of competing theories of fairness. The purpose of this paper is to review these recent developments, to point out open questions, and to suggest avenues for future research.
690 citations
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TL;DR: In recent years, several theoretical papers have been written showing that the observed phenomena can be explained in a rigorous and tractable manner as discussed by the authors, which induced a new wave of experimental research offering additional exciting insights into the nature of preferences and into the relative performance of competing theories of fairness.
Abstract: Most economic models are based on the self-interest hypothesis that assumes that all people are exclusively motivated by their material self-interest. In recent years experimental economists have gathered overwhelming evidence that systematically refutes the self-interest hypothesis and suggests that many people are strongly motivated by concerns for fairness and reciprocity. Moreover, several theoretical Papers have been written showing that the observed phenomena can be explained in a rigorous and tractable manner. These theories in turn induced a new wave of experimental research offering additional exciting insights into the nature of preferences and into the relative performance of competing theories of fairness. The purpose of this Paper is to review these recent developments, to point out open questions, and to suggest avenues for future research.
562 citations
TL;DR: The results showed that both parents' and adolescents' initial levels of negative emotion toward each other predicted the rate of growth and rate of change in growth of expressed negative affect and indicated that an adolescent's enmeshment in reciprocal negativity in the family of origin carried over into early adult social relationships.
Abstract: The purposes of this 9-year, prospective longitudinal study were (a) to investigate hypothesized reciprocal growth in negative emotions between parents and adolescents and (b) to examine the influence of this reciprocal process on the development of social relationships during early adulthood. The results showed that both parents' and adolescents' initial levels of negative emotion toward each other predicted the rate of growth and rate of change in growth of expressed negative affect. In addition, the analyses indicated that an adolescent's enmeshment in reciprocal negativity in the family of origin carried over into early adult social relationships. The findings demonstrate the reciprocal nature of negative affect in interactions between parents and adolescents and suggest that family experience with this interactional style may have an adverse influence on the development of early adult social relationships.
200 citations
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TL;DR: This article conducted ultimatum, public good, and dictator game experiments with subjects from fifteen hunter gatherer, nomadic herding and other small-scale societies exhibiting a wide variety of economic and cultural conditions.
Abstract: Recent investigations have uncovered large, consistent deviations from the predictions of the textbook representation of Homo Economicus: in addition to their own material payoffs, many experimental subjects appear to care about fairness and reciprocity and reward those who act in a cooperative manner while punishing those who do not even when these actions are costly to the individual. These deviations from what we will term the canonical Economic Man model have important consequences for a wide range of economic phenomena, including the optimal design of institutions and contracts, the allocation of property rights, the conditions for successful collective action, the analysis of incomplete contracts, and the persistence of noncompetitive wage premia. However, existing research is limited because virtually all subjects have been university students: we would like to know how universal these behaviors are and whether they vary with local cultural or economic environments. To address these questions we and our collaborators (11 anthropologists and 1 economist) conducted ultimatum, public good, and dictator game experiments with subjects from fifteen hunter gatherer, nomadic herding and other small-scale societies exhibiting a wide variety of economic and cultural conditions. We can summarize our results as follows. First, the Economic Man model is not supported in any society studied. Second, there is considerably more behavioral variability across groups than had been found in previous cross-cultural research and the canonical model fails in a wider variety of ways than in previous experiments. Third, group-level differences in the structure of everyday social interactions explain a substantial portion of the behavioral variation across societies: the higher the degree of market integration and the higher the payoffs to cooperation in the production of their livelihood, the greater the level of cooperation in experimental games. Fourth, individual-level economic and demographic variables do not explain behavior either within or across groups. Fifth, behavior in the experiments is generally consistent with economic patterns of everyday life in these societies.
189 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the socially embedded nature of institutions for common property resource management and collective action and explore the idea of institutional bricolage, a process by which people consciously and unconsciously draw on existing social and cultural arrangements to shape institutions in response to changing situations.
Abstract: Summaries This article draws on research in Tanzania to explore the socially embedded nature of institutions for common property resource management and collective action. The article challenges the design principles common in resource management literature and explores instead the idea of ‘institutional bricolage’ ‐ a process by which people consciously and unconsciously draw on existing social and cultural arrangements to shape institutions in response to changing situations. The resulting institutions are a mix of ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’, ‘formal’ and ‘informal’. Three aspects of institutional bricolage are elaborated here: the multiple identities of the bricoleurs, the frequency of cross‐cultural borrowing and of multi‐purpose institutions, and the prevalence of arrangements and social norms which foster cooperation, respect and non‐direct reciprocity over life courses.
185 citations
TL;DR: The authors describe the three elements of friendship, reciprocity, and hopefulness as aspects of inclusion that may provide a foundation for efforts toward recovery, and illustrate each of these elements through the stories of participants in a supported socialization program.
Abstract: This article takes its inspiration from a poem by Borges, in which the author makes a plea to simply be "let in" without being wondered at or required to succeed. Based on the view that these issues have applied historically to people with mental illnesses--first during the period of the asylum, and now more recently as a result of deinstitutionalization--this article argues for the adoption of a broad conceptual framework of inclusion that, based on a disability paradigm, neither alienates or requires people to succeed. First, the ways in which such a framework augments existing approaches to treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery are outlined. Next, the authors describe the three elements of friendship, reciprocity, and hopefulness as aspects of inclusion that may provide a foundation for efforts toward recovery, and illustrate each of these elements through the stories of participants in a supported socialization program. Implications for future research and policy are suggested based on these data.
180 citations
TL;DR: The authors find evidence for moderate behavioral consistency in a person's behavior across interaction partners, little or no evidence that people consistently engender the same behavioral response from others, and preliminary evidence of unique responding to particular partners.
Abstract: The authors investigate the relative importance of actor and interaction partner as determinants of dyadic behavior. Using the social relations model (D. A. Kenny, 1994a; D. A. Kenny & L. La Voie, 1984), the authors estimate the variance attributable to each determinant plus the reciprocity of behavioral responses from 7 studies. The authors find evidence for moderate behavioral consistency in a person's behavior across interaction partners, little or no evidence that people consistently engender the same behavioral response from others, and preliminary evidence of unique responding to particular partners. They also consider several methodological issues concerning behavioral measurement as well as the implications of the results for the study of accuracy.
150 citations
TL;DR: In recent years, experimental economists have gathered overwhelming evidence that systematically refutes the self-interest hypothesis and suggests that many people are strongly motivated by concerns for fairness and reciprocity as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Most economic models are based on the self-interest hypothesis that assumes that all people are exclusively motivated by their material self-interest. In recent years experimental economists have gathered overwhelming evidence that systematically refutes the self-interest hypothesis and suggests that many people are strongly motivated by concerns for fairness and reciprocity. Moreover, several theoretical papers have been written showing that the observed phenomena can be explained in a rigorous and tractable manner. These theories in turn induced a new wave of experimental research offering additional exciting insights into the nature of preferences and into the relative performance of competing theories of fairness. The purpose of this paper is to review these recent developments, to point out open questions, and to suggest avenues for future research.
116 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The International Service Learning Experience (ISLE) as discussed by the authors is an international service-learning program based on the Ayni concept of reciprocity, which is defined as the exchange of comparable work or goods as part of an ongoing cycle of reciprocal learning.
Abstract: Reciprocity is a tenet and a prerequisite of effective service-learning programs. As practitioners, we nurture mutuality by fostering respect and collaboration between community partners and service providers. We aim to generate meaning by effectively linking formal reflection and hands-on engagement. Interdependence between constituent elements is so important it is reflected in the hyphenated term itself: service-learning (Jacoby, 1996, p. 5). In the dialectical relationship between service and learning, each depends on the other. So, too, the actors are engaged in a dynamic, interdependent relationship. Stanton (1990) argues that mindful focus on reciprocity is a key element elevating service-learning to a philosophy of education. More than a pedestrian mode of enriching the curriculum, it is a fundamental worldview: an expression of values--service to others, community development and empowerment, reciprocal learning--which determines the purpose, nature and process of social and educational exchange between learners (students) and the people they serve, and between experiential education programs and the community organizations with which they work. (p. 67) Jacoby (1996) adds, "Service-learning is therefore a philosophy of reciprocity, which implies a concerted effort to move from charity to justice, from service to the elimination of need" (p. 9). Reciprocal service-learning programs aim to offer a "hand-up," rather than a simple "hand-out." This article seeks to contribute to the development of a transformative philosophy of service-learning. By presenting an indigenous Andean concept of reciprocity, or ayni (pronounced "eye-knee"), we aim to enrich our understanding of interdependent living in the global village. We offer this discussion of ayni as a metaphorical scaffold, building on the foundation of reciprocity laid through our international service-learning program. Documenting insights from the International Service-Learning Experience (ISLE) program, we offer eight applications of the concept as doorways to discuss the challenges of fostering mutual, meaningful (international) service-learning exchanges. The Philosophy of Ayni Ayni provides the substance to construct enduring relationships of reciprocity. Like the mud mortar that held our adobe schoolhouse together, it is both substantial and fluid. Both firm and flexible, once adobe is set in place it can weather grinding mountain windstorms, but must be habitually tended to maintain its integrity. As a guiding principle, ayni is a complex and challenging idea that prods us to ask hard questions of ourselves and our service partners. In the long term, ayni is resilient and applicable to a variety of relationships, including those we hope to build in the post-modern, post-colonial world. Ayni arises from an indigenous philosophy that stands the test of time, adapting to varied climates and surviving both conquest and capitalism. The term ayni comes from the high terraces and craggy valleys of the majestic Andes Mountains. This is the home of the Quechua people, who, literally, were the backbone of the Inca Empire. Today they struggle both to integrate into evolving nation-states and to maintain traditional forms of community life. Family and community revolve around the boom and bust cycles of agriculture, exports, and tourism. In most Andean countries, there is little governmental infrastructure to support health, education, or economic development beyond basic provisions. Eking out a living and building for the future, whether as an amaranth farmer, teacher, three-wheeled taxi driver, or chef at a tourist hotel means relying on others in hard times and coming together to provide for the common good. Ayni has long held together relatively autonomous community and kinship groups and helped them prosper and nurture a strong sense of interdependence. (1) Simply, ayni is the exchange of comparable work or goods as part of an ongoing cycle of reciprocity. …
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that peer ratings in group settings are prone to bias, resulting in unfairness of mark outcomes, as a result of friendships and social interactions accompanying group task activities and support for the belief that the validity and fairness of peer ratings are vitiated by relational effects.
Abstract: Concerns about the use of peer ratings for assessment purposes are manifold. The issues which are raised by practitioners and researchers, and findings based on recent studies addressing these issues, are outlined. One of the most persistent criticisms is that peer ratings in group settings are prone to bias, resulting in unfairness of mark outcomes. The bias is seen to arise as a result of friendships and social interactions accompanying group task activities. Support for the belief that the validity and fairness of peer ratings are vitiated by 'relational effects' is found in the literature on small group behaviour and interactionist theory. Empirical studies in these two areas operationalise relational effects in what is termed 'reciprocation' - the tendency for two people who are involved in rating each other to be influenced in their rating behaviour by social interactions between the two. The effect of this on rating outcomes, referred to as 'reciprocity effects', is seen to be a major source of bia...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined whether reciprocal actions exist between community members as consumers and retailers and if these actions are persuasive in predicting the economic activity regarded as consumer inshopping.
Abstract: The social environment in which the retailer conducts business is not often measured for its fundamental influences on consumers’ local purchasing behavior This study, using social capital theory as a theoretical framework, examines whether reciprocal actions exist between community members as consumers and retailers and if these actions are persuasive in predicting the economic activity regarded as consumer inshopping Determinants of inshopping behavior are analyzed from the community member’s perspective in a study of the rural community marketplace The sample population consisted of consumers living in two rural Iowa communities with populations less than 10,000, agricultural-based economies, and retail mixtures of locally owned and operated small-sized businesses as well as national chain and discount organizations Structural equation modeling estimated the causal patterns among consumers’ attachment to community with two endogenous variables regarding reciprocity and inshopping behavior Findings offer supporting evidence that social relationships aid in predicting rural marketplace relationships
TL;DR: Characteristics of closeness in the romantic relationships of early, mid and late adolescents are described to determine whether adolescent reports of relationship authority and reciprocity are linked to perceptions of interdependence, interaction frequency, activity diversity, influence, and relationship duration.
TL;DR: It is suggested that there is a need for a more inclusive conceptualization of person-centred care, which recognizes the values of interdependence and reciprocity, which potentially disadvantage the oldest and frailest members of society.
Abstract: This article, based on a paper given at the International Network for Studies Concerning Older Adults conference, Brazil, charts the emergence of notions of successful ageing, health-related quality of life and person-centred care which currently figure prominently in debates about health and social care. It argues that these developments reflect the importance given to autonomy and independence, values which potentially disadvantage the oldest and frailest members of society. It is suggested that there is a need for a more inclusive conceptualization of person-centred care, which recognizes the values of interdependence and reciprocity.
TL;DR: The author proposes a relevant map of changing social stances adopted by infants in the course of early development and suggests that although the development of intersubjectivity is a central feature of infant behavior and development, the meaning of contingency detection, hence the source of inter Subjectivity, changes radically between birth and 18 months of age.
Abstract: The developmental origins and determinants of social contingency detection are discussed. Based on recent research, the author proposes that the origins of social contingency detection correspond to the early propensity developing in the first 6 months of life to differentiate between what pertains to the self (i.e., one's own body) and what pertains to others. Furthermore, from the second month of life, what infants appear to gain from contingency detection while interacting with others is a sense of shared experience or intersubjectivity. Research suggests that although the development of intersubjectivity is a central feature of infant behavior and development, the meaning of contingency detection, hence the source of intersubjectivity, changes radically between birth and 18 months of age. In general, it is proposed that the origins and determinants of social contingency detection must be construed in relation to (1) the developing sense of self in infancy, (2) the infant's developing sense of reciprocity with others, and (3) the infant's developing sense of participation with others. The author concludes by proposing a relevant map of changing social stances adopted by infants in the course of early development.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors use an evolutionary game theoretic simulation model (the Social Evolution Model) to investigate the relative fitness of two versions of a reciprocal altruistic trait competing with a defecting trait.
Abstract: This paper is a contribution to solving the problem of whether reciprocal altruism can emerge and maintain itself in a population of selfish individuals. We use an evolutionary game theoretic simulation model (the Social Evolution Model) to investigate the relative fitness of two versions of a reciprocal altruistic trait competing with a defecting trait. One main difference between the Social Evolution Model and most of the models that are known in this field is that partner selection is straightforwardly built into the strategies of the players. In most of the models in the literature, partner selection is not an option in the game. Because of this element of forced play, much attention is given to the ability of strategies to detect cheaters and to retaliate. We show that modeling partner selection points to disadvantages of a preoccupation with cheater-detection and to the importance of committing oneself to a partner.
TL;DR: The role of civil society in economic development has been discussed in a wide range of contexts, e.g., in the context of social capital as mentioned in this paper, which is defined as the economic potential embodied in social organisations and the norms of trust and reciprocity that animate them.
Abstract: In recent decades, debates over the determinants of economic development have routinely turned on disagreements over the proper boundaries between the state and the market. Statists argue that the imperfect and immature markets of most developing countries require the guidance of a strong, autonomous, Weberian state. Neo-liberals champion the ef® ciency of free markets in allocating resources toward their most productive uses and decry the distortions accompanying many forms of state intervention. Neither perspective places primary emphasis on the role of civil society‐ those intermediate forms of social organisation that stand between, and partially independent of, both state and market. When statistsand neo-liberals do sometimes focus on the role that civil society plays in economic development, they ® nd common ground around a negative assessment of the economic impact of associationalism. Statists fear that a vigorous civil society will press multiplied demands upon the state. These external pressures undermine the bureaucratic autonomy that serves as the central prerequisite to neutral, technocratic management of the development process. At the extreme, a constantly agitated civil society threatens to overwhelm fragile political institutions and lead to ungovernability in the face of fractious and contradictory demands from below. 1 Neo-liberals see matters in similar terms. Societal mobilisation usually entails collusion among rent-seeking agents who seek to transfer income from other segments of society by manipulating markets or state policies. These distributive coalitions reward the organised at the expense of the unorganised in a zero-sum game. Widespread rent seeking adds nothing to overall economic development and in fact interferes with the growth process by distorting incentives and impeding innovation. 2 In the last decade, a growing number of sociologists, economists and political scientists has sought to overturn this negative portrayal of the economic consequences of associationalism. The notion of social capital has served as the driving wedge of this effort to de® ne a ``third way’’ along the path to development. Social capital consists of the economic potential embodied in social organisations and the norms of trust and reciprocity that animate them. In this view, the self-organisation of civil society is a necessary element of successful
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe a researcher's process of negotiating reciprocity with two teachers by collaborating with them in teaching urban special education classes, and how this "collaboration in labor" grew from a feminist ethic of care and sense of responsibility toward the immediate needs of participants.
Abstract: Researchers engaged in qualitative inquiry are becoming increasingly reflective about the ethical considerations inherent within their research questions, interpretive processes, and relationships with participants. This article describes a researcher's process of negotiating reciprocity with two teachers by collaborating with them in teaching urban special education classes. The author explains how this "collaboration in labor" grew from a feminist ethic of care and sense of responsibility toward the immediate needs of participants. Such a collaborative approach helped narrow the power gaps that can emerge between researcher and participants. In addition, the author felt that it contributed to establishing trust between the participants and the researcher, to greater mutuality in the interpretation of findings, and toward increased student academic achievement in the classes studied.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors pass over the pragmatic rationales for welfare reform in order to concentrate on those which appeal to principle: first, consent; second, weak paternalism; and third, strong paternalism.
Abstract: When an able-bodied pauper is not employed, or when he is not employed to his full capacity, he must be given help in the form of work, and only in that form. That principle is fundamental in the system of public aid. If society must assist the unfortunate, it owes nothing to the idle. The pauper who refuses work he is able to do, when that work is offered him, has no right to receive as aid what he could have derived from his labour. Not only does he then have no right to be helped, but all other aid must be refused him. Gerando, On Public Charity (1839) Introduction Draconian reform of public systems of income support for people of working age is pandemic across the OECD. The principles given in support of that reform have proven equally contagious. Doubtless it is a philosopher's professional weakness to suppose that those principles actually play an important role in actual policy formation. The real impetus probably lies elsewhere -- principles as usual serving purely as fig leaves. Still, ripping away fig leaves may be the most useful service a mere philosopher can render. Here I therefore pass over the pragmatic rationales for welfare reform in order to concentrate on those which appeal to principle. Among them (in order of most liberal to most illiberal) are arguments in terms of: first, consent; second, weak paternalism; and third, strong paternalism. Consent-based arguments assert that welfare reform is permissible because the people affected have agreed to it; which, if true, would be a powerful liberal argument in its defence. Weakly paternalistic arguments contend that welfare reform is permissible because, in some sense or another, it responds to the deeper desires of the people affected, even if they cannot bring themselves actually to act on those desires. Strongly paternalistic arguments assert baldly that welfare reform is good for people, whether they like it or not. That is very illiberal indeed (King 1999). None of those arguments, in my view, comes remotely close to justifying the kind of welfare reforms which are currently fashionable, both here and in other industrialised nations. Consent First, take consent-based arguments. There can be no doubt the language of the social contract has been widely deployed in recent welfare initiatives. In Britain, for example, New Labour heralds its welfare reforms as a `new social contract' (UK Secretary of State for Social Security 1998; cf. Hughes & Little 1999). The French talk of a `new social compact' and emphasize the quasi-contractual nature of the `activation agreements' as lying at the core of their RMI -- `social insertion' -- program (Rosanvallon 2000: ch. 6). Both former President Clinton and the House Republicans opposing him harped on about the implicit contract underlying American welfare arrangements: `You work when you can, we pay when you can't.' (Clinton 1996a,b, following Gingrich et al. 1994; cf. Burtless et al. 1997). Similar quasi-contractualist themes are echoed in Norway and Denmark -- where the breadline is being replaced by a `work line' and an `active line' respectively (Kildal 1999) -- and by Australian Governments from the Thatcherite left and Coolidgeite right (where the current talk is of an `appropriate framework of reciprocity' [McClure et al. 2000: 34; cf Keating 1994; Davis et al. 1997; Yeatman 1996; 1997; 1999]). But even though the notion of contract is widely invoked, just how seriously should we take it? Micro-level social contracts In evaluating these arguments, it is useful to distinguish between micro-level and macro-level contracts. By `micro-level contracts' I mean the sort of contracts negotiated face-to-face between welfare recipients and their caseworkers -- `participation plans', `activation agreements' and so forth -- whereby recipients are promised benefits in exchange for promising to make themselves more employable in some way or another. …
TL;DR: Multitype analysis shows that non-idealized populations possess an ESS profile wherein individuals who cannot afford reciprocity defect, while individuals who derive net benefits from reciprocity (high-quality) cooperate, and this cooperation is implemented via unmodified tit-for-tat (TfT) strategy.
TL;DR: In this article, a model of the emergence of cooperative social norms in a society composed exclusively of rational agents is presented, which is supported by evidence from an international micro-data set on family behavior.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a formal theory of reciprocity is presented, which takes into account that people evaluate the kindness of an action not only by its consequences but also by the intention underlying this action.
Abstract: This Paper presents a formal theory of reciprocity. Reciprocity means that people reward kind actions and punish unkind ones. The theory takes into account that people evaluate the kindness of an action not only by its consequences but also by the intention underlying this action. The theory explains the relevant stylized facts of a wide range of experimental games. Among them are the ultimatum game, the gift-exchange game, a reduced best-shot game, the dictator game, the prisoner's dilemma, and public goods games. Furthermore, the theory explains why the same consequences trigger different reciprocal responses in different environments. Finally, the theory explains why in bilateral interactions outcomes tend to be ‘fair’ whereas in competitive markets even extremely unfair distributions may arise.
01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: In this paper, an assessment of the range, the intrinsic limitations, and the conditions for activation of human cooperativeness would benefit from a systems approach combining biological and socio-cultural aspects.
Abstract: Understanding cooperative human behaviour depends on insights into the biological basis of human altruism, as well as into socio-cultural development. In terms of evolutionary theory, kinship and reciprocity are well established as underlying cooperativeness. Reasons will be given suggesting an additional source, the capability of a cognition-based empathy that may have evolved as a by-product of strategic thought. An assessment of the range, the intrinsic limitations, and the conditions for activation of human cooperativeness would profit from a systems approach combining biological and socio-cultural aspects. However, this is not yet the prevailing attitude among contemporary social and biological scientists who often hold prejudiced views of each other’s notions. It is therefore worth noticing that the desirable integration of aspects has already been attempted, in remarkable and encouraging ways, in the history of thought on human nature. I will exemplify this with the ideas of the fourteenth century ArabMuslim historian Ibn Khaldun. He set out to explicate human cooperativeness - “asabiyah” - as having a biological basis in common descent, but being extendable far beyond within social systems, though in a relatively unstable and attenuated fashion. He combined psychological and material factors in a dynamical theory of the rise and decline of political rulership, and related general social phenomena to basic features of human behaviour influenced by kinship, expectation of reciprocity, and empathic emotions.
01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the various activities that take place within the newsgroup, the way in which the structure and the norms of the group facilitate sharing, the participants' viewpoint on the phenomenon, and the technological environment that encompasses the activity.
Abstract: The rise of the Internet has created new venues for human interaction. While participants in a Usenet newsgroup have never met face to face and hardly know any personal information about each other, they engage in voluntary sharing of economically valuable goods, without any immediate return. Moreover, the contributors cannot trace or identify the beneficiaries, and reciprocity is not guaranteed or even enforceable. The phenomenon has received little academic attention, and popular press coverage has attributed its existence to technological developments, overlooking the social context that underlies it. Based on qualitative research methods, the article describes the various activities that take place within the newsgroup, the way in which the structure and the norms of the group facilitate sharing, the participants’ viewpoint on the phenomenon, and the technological environment that encompasses the activity. Subsequently, several plausible explanations are considered, including low cost, gain from externalities, reciprocity, social norms, common pool resources, and warm glow. It is shown that none of these approaches explains the phenomenon well. The article concludes with recommendations for researchers and for managers, especially those in companies that engage in electronic business or produce digitizable content.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that debates concerning principles of justice need to be attentive to various types of social process, such as the distribution of resources between groups defined as talented and untalented.
Abstract: Debates concerning principles of justice need to be attentive to various types of social process. One concerns the distribution of resources between groups defined as talented and untalented. Another concerns the social mechanisms by which people come to be categorised as talented and untalented. Political philosophers have paid considerable attention to the former issues, much less to the latter. That, I shall argue, represents a significant oversight.
TL;DR: Youth partnership accountability as discussed by the authors is a particular approach to youth participation that appreciates and reflects upon the accountability of adult workers to young people in the process of partnership work, which directly addresses the realm of relationship requiring an exploration of trust, respect and reciprocity.
Abstract: Youth partnership accountability is a particular approach to youth participation that appreciates and reflects upon the accountability of adult workers to young people in the process of partnership work. In this work young people have significant control over their personal situation, a service or a project with adult workers taking up positions as supporters - they still take action or make decisions, but with the explicit permission of young people. Youth partnership accountability directly addresses the realm of relationship requiring an exploration of trust, respect and reciprocity, and therefore, ethics. Any approach to human services work needs to clearly identify the theoretical threads that inform it, articulating both epistemological standpoints and defining concepts. There is also the need to examine praxis through a process of critical reflection. This paper takes praxis, in the Freirean sense (Freire, 1970, 1994), as the meeting place of theory and practice, the juncture at which words and act...
TL;DR: This paper investigated the influence of social rank/status on perceptions of fairness and tolerance of cheating in ranked relationships and found that people who adopt a perspective of high social rank are more tolerant of cheating and simultaneously believe that they have been more fairly treated (even when cheated) than people cued to adopt a viewpoint of low social rank.
Abstract: Many economic and evolutionary theories have modeled cooperation as the evolutionary outcome of decisions made by autonomous, self-interested agents operating in a social vacuum. In this paper we consider the implications for cooperative interactions when prior social structures and corresponding social norms exist. In particular we investigate the influence of social rank/status on perceptions of fairness and tolerance of cheating. We review evidence from a series of experiments employing the Wason selection task (a test of conditional reasoning) and the ledger task (a decision making task) suggesting that people cued to adopt a perspective of high social rank are more tolerant of cheating and simultaneously believe that they have been more fairly treated (even when cheated) than people cued to adopt a perspective of low social rank. However, the evidence also suggests interesting cross-cultural differences in perceptions of fairness and tolerance of cheating in ranked relationships.
TL;DR: In the town of Orgosolo, in central Sardinia, Italy, the authors found that the attitude of residents toward the political climate had changed over the past twenty or 30 years.
Abstract: The evaluation of social communication in the town of Orgosolo is implicitly engaged with definitively "Sardinian" and "traditional" practices of hospitality. Sensually rooted in meaningful material culture, these practices enwrap participants in a moral world within which positive reciprocity and co-operation can be presumed as normative. Both language and everyday sociality in Orgosolo operate symbolically to transform verbal exchange so that the processes involved in making words fit for social consumption largely mimic the rigorous local standards of authenticity applied to baking bread or roasting meat. Townspeople highlight their own regional and national marginality by affirming their ideas of "real talk" in contrast to the untrustworthy discourses of bureaucrats and party politicians. By cultivating hospitality as a sphere of political expression, they attempt to subvert cultural constructions of their backwardness and legitimize the authority of their own informal discourses. (Italy, Sardinia, politics of hospitality, authenticity, the senses) ********** Over the course of fieldwork in the town of Orgosolo, in central Sardinia, I often asked people to explain how the political climate had changed over the past twenty or 30 years. The seeming apathy of residents toward la politica appeared to be a recent trend. In postwar rural Sardinia, as in Italy generally during that period, party politics was an important part of social life. One woman described how even through the 1970s, political parties held public demonstrations and assemblies "for everything ... you were always hearing an announcement on the loudspeakers or a car going around advertising a meeting for one party or another, and if the Christian Democrats had a meeting, the Communist Party had to have one too, they vied with one another to see who had more meetings." At the end of the 1960s, there were vibrant sections of several political parties, and two "youth circles" led active lobbies on several issues. Yet two decades later, people in their teens, twenties, and thirties often insisted they knew nothing about politics, that they were uninterested in political parties and did not see any differences between them. Most would talk earnestly and thoughtfully about issues and events, but not about political parties. Few people had party memberships, and many skipped official town assemblies as a general rule, saying that they already knew what would be said and who would speak. Quite apparently the political climate had changed much in the course of one generation. Older people agreed that the role of organized political parties had declined. Many people who had once participated in various political projects spoke nostalgically about the period prior to the 1980s, and no longer thought it was useful to work within the party framework. Some expressed disillusionment with the left-wing activists who got their permanent job posts and ran out of steam for lobbying and organizing, "Si sono tutti sistemati" (they all got settled). An artist, teacher, and former youth activist at Orgosolo suggested that the problem lay not in the degeneration of political organizers, but in the people, who had become more diffident toward the politicians. A former mayor also explained the changing mode of politics in Orgosolo as a decline in popular participation: [T]he indifference [today] towards the problem of employment, or the lack of [political] participation to change our life, waiting for others to change it, is something unpleasant. Political life today is less intense than that of yesterday: probably one believes less than before, one has less faith, one is tired of the behavior of the political world or of the government. This phenomenon of political refusal is often attributed to the changing national context within which party politics in Sardinia takes shape. Following World War II and the creation of the Republic of Italy, extensive patronage networks evolved in association with key political parties. …