Risky Transactions: Trust, Kinship and Ethnicity

321 Pages·2002·1.621 MB·English

by  Frank K. Salter (editor)

R T
ISKY RANSACTIONS

RISKY TRANSACTIONS
Trust, Kinship, and Ethnicity
Edited by
Frank K. Salter
Berghahn Books
New York • Oxford
First published in 2002 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
Editorial offices:
604 West 115th Street,New York NY 10025,USA
3 NewTec Place,Magdalen Road,Oxford OX4 1RE,UK
© 2002 Frank Salter
All rights reserved.
No part ofthis publication may be reproduced in any form
or by any means without the written permission
ofBerghahn Books.
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Risky transactions :trust,kinship,and ethnicity / edited by Frank K.Salter.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57181-710-7 (cl.:alk.paper) -- ISBN 1-57181-319-5 (pb.:alk.paper)
1.Sociobiology. 2.Kinship. 3.Ethnicity. 4.Risk-taking (Psychology).
5.Altruism. I.Salter,Frank K.
GN365.9 .R57 2002
304.5--dc21
2001052719
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Printed in the United States on acid-free paper.
ISBN 1–57181–710–7 (hardback)
ISBN 1–57181–319–5 (paperback)
C
ONTENTS
(cid:1) (cid:1)
List ofFigures and Map vii
List ofTables ix
Acknowledgements xi
Notes on Contributors xiii
Introduction
1.From Mafia to freedom fighters:Questions raised by ethology 3
and sociobiology
Frank K.Salter
Ethnography
2. Taking the risk out ofrisky transactions:A forager’s dilemma 21
Polly Wiessner
Psychological mechanisms
3. Kith-and-kin rationality in risky choices:Theoretical modelling 47
and cross-cultural empirical testing
X.T.Wang
4. Altruism begins at home:Evidence for a kin selection heuristic 71
sensitive to the costs and benefits ofhelping
Eugene Burnstein,Christine Branigan,and Grazyna Wieczorkowska-Nejtardt
Contents
Risky business,illicit and licit
5. Mafia and blood symbolism 109
Anton Blok
6. Cognitive and classificatory foundations oftrust and informal 129
institutions:A new and expanded theory ofethnic trading networks
Janet T.Landa
Oppressed families and minorities
7. Risky transactions under a totalitarian regime:The Romanian case 145
Carmen Strungaru
8. Strategies for mitigating risk among Jewish groups 151
Kevin MacDonald
AIDS,the U.S.Supreme Court,and Tourism
9. Ethnicity,transactional risk ofHIV,and male homosexual 175
partnering behaviour
James N.Schubert and Margaret Ann Curran
10. Dialect,sex and risk effects on judges’questioning ofcounsel in 189
Supreme Court oral argument
James N.Schubert,Steven A.Peterson,Glendon Schubert,and
Stephen L.Wasby
11. Risk and deceit in transient,non-repeated interactions: 205
The case oftourism
Pierre L.van den Berghe
Evolutionary syntheses
12. Ethnic solidarity as risk avoidance:An evolutionary view 219
Peter Meyer
13. Ethnic nepotism as a two-edged sword:The risk-mitigating role of 243
ethnicity among mafiosi,nationalist fighters,middlemen,
and dissidents
Frank K.Salter
Subject Index 291
Name Index 297
– vi–
L F
IST OF IGURES
(cid:1) (cid:1)
3.1 Risk proneness as a function ofthe group size and kinship 53
(adapted from Wang and Johnston,1995)
3.2 The choice ofthe sure outcome vs.the probabilistic outcome 55
ofequal expected value as a function ofthe closeness in kinship
between a decision maker and the hypothetical survivors in
the sure outcome
3.3 The percentage ofthe subjects choosing the sure outcome to 57
the inferior probabilistic outcome in different group contexts
(adapted from Wang,1996a)
3.4 Predicted minimum requirement (MR) for the sure saving of 62
a fraction ofthe hypothetical group at stake in three social
group situations
3.5 The effects ofincreasing survival rate ofhypothetical patients 63
on subjects’risk preference across three social group contexts
3.6 Expected reproductive values ofthe hypothetical survivors in 64
the sure outcome for the young and middle-aged subjects
3.7 The effects ofage,perspective ofdecision makers,and 65
reproductive cues about decision recipients on choice preference
(adapted from Wang,1996b)
4.1 Relationship between perceived and actual kinship 76
4.2 Probability ofreceiving help under life-or-death vs. 79
everyday favour conditions
4.3 Probability ofreceiving help as a function ofthe recipient’s 80
age under life-or-death vs.everyday conditions
– vii–
List ofFigures
4.4 Probability ofreceiving help under famine conditions 81
4.5 Probability ofreceiving help as a function ofthe health ofthe 82
recipient under life-or-death vs.everyday favour conditions
4.6 Probability ofreceiving help as a function ofkinship and 86
wealth under everyday conditions
4.7 Probability ofreceiving help as a function ofkinship and 87
wealth under life-or-death conditions
5.1 Kinship ties between mafiosi:brothers-in-law 111
5.2 Kinship ties between four Mafia families in the U.S.A.and Sicily 112
9.1 National AIDS cases diagnosed by month 176
9.2 National AIDS incidence rates 181
9.3 Incidence ofKaposi’s Sarcoma with AIDS 183
9.4 Regional variation ofAIDS incidence rates 185
10.1 The effects ofcounsel dialect on questioning behaviour 196
10.2 The effects ofsex ofcounsel on questioning behaviour 199
M
AP
2.1 Location ofplaces mentioned in the text.In the 1974–5 study, 27
people were interviewed at Dobe,/Kae/kae and Tjum!kui,and
in the 1996–7 study,at Xamsa,N≠ama and Mangetti Pos.
There were thirty-two villages in the Nyae Nyae area in 1997,
and ofthese only five are shown.
– viii–
L T
IST OF ABLES
(cid:1) (cid:1)
2.1 Average percent ofindividuals related to ego by r=½,¼,⅛,⁄, 30
and ⁄+ who arexaropartners (n=number ofindividuals in
the sample,for whom complete data on the number ofkin in a given
category are available).
2.2 Expected and observed frequencies for choice ofxaropartners 31
related to ego by r=⁄or less according to predictions made
from the name relationship for 59 Ju/’hoansi ofthe Dobe,
/Kae/kae and Tjum!kui areas (Total number ofpartnerships
considered=431).
2.3 Distribution ofxaropartners by distance from ego in 1975 and 1997. 35
2.4 Genetic relatedness and choice ofxaropartners in 1975 and 1997. 36
4.1 Percentage ofaltruists who discriminate in favour ofthe younger 84
over the older recipient when both are equally related to the altruist.
4.2 Percentage ofaltruists who discriminate in favour ofthe younger 84
over the older recipient when the older recipient is more closely
related to the altruist.
10.1 The effects ofdialect on questioning behaviour. 195
10.2 The effects ofsex on questioning behaviour. 198
10.3 List ofcases. 202
– ix–