Caste and Punishment : The Legacy of Caste Culture in Norm Enforcement

Hoff, Karla ; Kshetramade, Mayuresh ; Fehr, Ernst

关键词: ANTHROPOLOGISTS;    APARTHEID;    ARGUMENTS;    BRIBERY;    BROTHERS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5040
RP-ID  :  WPS5040

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Well-functioning groups enforce socialnorms that restrain opportunism, but the social structure ofa society may encourage or inhibit norm enforcement. Thispaper studies how the exogenous assignment to differentpositions in an extreme social hierarchy - the caste system- affects individuals' willingness to punish violationsof a cooperation norm. Although the analysis controls forindividual wealth, education, and political participation,low-caste individuals exhibit a much lower willingness topunish norm violations that hurt members of their own caste,suggesting a cultural difference across caste status in theconcern for members of one s own community. The lowerwillingness to punish may inhibit the low caste s ability tosustain collective action and so may contribute to itseconomic vulnerability.